They Kissed and It was Perfect
by RubysArms
Summary: What is it about sadness that brings out other emotions in us? Deep emotions that we may not even known we had? It's what happens to Karen and Grace when Grace's devestation makes them realize there may be some inner romantic feelings they both share.....
1. First Kiss

Grace entered her office building and just collapsed onto the floor, she let her hair fall in front of her face, covering up all of the mascara that had run down her cheek. She let her papers fall, she let her back rest against the leg of her desk, she sobbed quietly, praying Karen wouldn't show up today, and knowing that it was a huge possibility. She knew Karen would dismiss her problem and try to solve it half-assed, so she prayed that she didn't come in and find her like this, on the floor, sobbing, and broken.

Her prayers weren't answered, Karen came in, "Be ba da ba ba da, oh honey? What's the matter?" Said Karen, making her way over to Grace. Grace sniffed then quickly rose to her feet, she tried to make no eye contact with Karen at all, knowing it would just melt her even more. "Nothing, I'm fine" she moved away from Karen and went behind her desk, shuffling papers pretending like she was doing something, anything. "Nothing? God Grace your in here on the floor sobbing, wouldja please tell me what's wrong?" said Karen empathetically. Grace looked up at Karen, who looked different today than usual, she had on red tank top, with diamonds on her ears and neck, her lips sparkled and her eyes were deep and mysterious, her raven hair shined from the daylight coming in the office, even her feet were glamorous. She tilted her head, god, everything she did was beautiful, every move she made, every word she said, every breathe she took, was beautiful. Grace had never seen Karen in a romantic or sexual way, but she had always admired Karen and always enjoyed their kisses and always awaited the next one, pretending that she wasn't comfortable with it, although she was.

"Honey…. tell me." Pleaded Karen, making her way over to Grace who was obviously a wreck. Karen was confused, grace never had troubles showing her emotions, why all of a sudden? It had to have been something big. "You know what Karen?" said grace shuffling her papers, her hands shaking, "it was nothing, just forget about it."

"Well, honey I," "I said forget it!" Shouted Grace, Karen wasn't mad she shouted she was just so heartbroken, there was obviously a serious problem, "Tell me" attempted Karen one last time, proving she really cared and Grace's devastation hurt her as well. "You wanna know what's wrong Karen? Do you really want to know? It's my life!" she shouted, Karen listened intently, knowing her anger wasn't REALLY directed towards her. "I hate my life. I'm in my mid-thirties, I'm not married, I have no kids, I live with a gay guy my job is monotonous and it's too hard. Waking up day after day, doing the same thing, seeing the same people. I just can't do it anymore, something has to change I just" she felt herself beginning to cry again, this time harder to control, only because Karen was in the room. Karen walked up to her, "hey, hey shhh, it's okay". She wiped away her tears and let her hand linger on Grace's smooth cheek. Grace looked up to Karen, Karen pulled her hand from Grace's cheek to underneath Grace's chin and then gently guided Grace's mouth to hers and they kissed. Everything seemed to go away, they both felt there was nothing else, no before, no after, nothing besides they kiss, they were one, and it was perfect. Karen let go, letting her lips abrade Grace's as they moved from her mouth to her neck, she kissed it lightly, Grace's hands ran through Karen's hair, and Karen thrust grace against her desk, she knocked all of the papers off and Grace slid onto it, and then Karen on top of her. Karen's weight on top of her, it was the best sensation Grace had ever felt, Karen kissed her everywhere. Grace rolled over on the small amount of room they had and pulled Karen underneath her, she held Karen's hands and pulled them together, holding them with her left hand above Karen's head and letting her right hand skim Karen's face. Karen's hands were almost Grace's favorite part about Karen's body, she wasn't sure why, most people (men) liked her boobs, or her ass, but Grace just loved her delicate, soft sweet little hands, and she help them every chance he could. They sat up, Grace still on top of her and Karen unbuttoned Grace's shirt revealing her bra, Karen pulled her shirt over her head and they went back down, kissing passionately and tenderly.

MORE IS COMING!! LOOK FORWARD TO CHAPTER 2 COMING UP SOON


	2. 20 mins Later

Twenty minutes later, Karen lay on the desk in just her bra and pants, smoking a cigarette gazing at the ceiling. They hadn't had sex, although they both wanted to desperately, but they felt it had to wait, it couldn't happen as suddenly as all of that just did. Grace was across the room buttoning up her shirt and putting her hair back up. "Karen please put your shirt on, Will's going to be stopping by for lunch any minute now!" Karen sat up, looking at Grace who was looking at her shirt, buttoning it vigorously. Grace looked up after she was done, "put it on!" she teased, Karen laughed and rolled her eyes then Grace walked over and grabbed Karen's shirt off the floor and handed it to her, Karen rolled her eyes and handed Grace her cigarette, Grace held it and Karen put the shirt over her head then took it back, taking a long drag from it and letting the smoke seep through her nose.

Grace gazed at Karen, such a powerful woman, she needed her, now that she finally had given into all of the sexual tension that had been building up for all this time she felt like she couldn't control it, it was just burning in her, but then Will walked in, "hey guys" they turned to him quickly. He was completely oblivious. Karen hopped down, smacking Grace's butt discretely, Grace smiled and rolled her eyes, then Karen went and sat at her desk and looked in her mirror to reapply the lipstick that had been wiped away. "Here, I brought Chinese food, I thought we could eat it here" he smiled, and Grace smiled back, she tried to concentrate on the words but all she could think about was what just happened, thank god Will was here or right now she would be on Karen so hard it would hurt, not that hurting was a problem, hurting was good sometimes, and she knew…now…that Karen liked it rough. "Hey," said Will, Karen and Grace both looked up from their daydream of what would happen when Will would leave, "Why are all these papers and fabrics all over the floor? Why is the table all cleared off?" he said. Grace, wide eyed, glanced at Karen briefly who didn't look up from filing her nails. "Well, I was having, um…a creative breakthrough!" she lied, Karen looked up with a 'oh god' look. Will bought it, "a creative breakthrough eh? Well good for you, it doesn't really explain why everything is on the floor but still, congrats" Grace smiled then laughed nervously. They opened up the bag and Will set all of the food on the empty table, Grace had almost forgotten what the table looked like with nothing on it, she'd never forget now….

"Karen? You want some Chinese food?" Karen gazed at her surprised she'd ask, Will gave the same look. Karen said "um no thanks honey, I just drank breakfast, and I usually don't drink lunch until about, one? And its only eleven. Karen tried to seem as normal as possible, she knew it was harder for Grace to do so, she always had trouble hiding her secrets, especially from Will, but regularly the secret they both possessed would seem so far fetched and so out of the question that Will didn't suspect a thing. He left forty long minutes later and Grace finished eating in silence waiting for Karen to say something. After ten minutes of silence Karen caved, "so, Grace?" she said, Grace sighed silently, relieved that she didn't have to start talking first, not that It was awkward or anything. "Yeah?" said grace looking up with chopsticks in her mouth and food dripping down her face, Karen laughed at the sight of her. Karen was pretty sure she was in love with Grace Adler, in a way she'd never loved anyone ever before. She figured it was because there was no money involved, no commitment besides the friendship they had already built strongly, she was Karen's best friend and more, and that's the only thing Karen could ever want or need, money didn't seem as important anymore. And they laughed for a minute, then went back to silence and it was only silence until the end of the work day, it was dark outside and Karen was putting her purse on her left shoulder and pressing the button on the service elevator, "well, see ya tomorrow Grace" said Karen. "Wait," grace stood up from her stool and ran over to Karen and she put her hand on her face, her eyes darted back and forth from Karen's left eye to her right, god she was beautiful, Grace kissed her gently, and Karen almost let out a moan from the passion she felt whenever Grace touched her, but she contained herself from moaning but nothing could stop the words, "I love you," from coming from her red lips. Grace looked up at her after she was sure what she heard was correct. This was a side of Karen she never saw before. "Love you too Kare" that was closer, grace let Karen close the door to the elevator and leave, and soon after sitting twenty minutes in complete silence, reflecting on the day, which was possibly the best one of her life, she turned off the lights locked up her office and left for home.

That night Karen was on her mind and in her dreams every single moment, she even burnt herself on the stove while cooking her dinner, since she was just bursting with feelings. She went to bed early, in hopes her dreams would predict the future of what would happen tomorrow in the office….

TO BE CONINUED………


	3. Second Kiss

The next morning Grace got up early just to pick out a sexy outfit for Karen, one she pleaded Karen wouldn't make fun of and maybe, actually like, it was a stretch but she strived for it. Karen was at home doing the same, she paced back and forth in her bedroom and fell on the bed and sighed. She unhooked her plain black bra and put on her lacey red one, hopefully Grace would like it. Grace put her left earring in; Karen did a shot of mouthwash mixed with gin, so her breathe would smell okay and she'd be a little buzzed. Grace drew on her eyeliner a little heavier, like she did when she dressed up fancy; Karen brushed a stray piece of hair back into her up-do and took one final glance in the mirror before walking out, she was planning on being on time, maybe even a little early to work, something she'd never done or desired to do before.

Karen popped a pill in the service elevator on her way up to Grace's office, praying Grace wouldn't be there yet so she could look in the mirror one last time just to make sure everything was perfect, she felt pretty, hopefully Grace thought she was pretty too. Grace was there. God she looked amazing, Karen thought. She smiled sweetly at Grace and Grace smiled back. "Hey Kare," said Grace. "Hi honey, sorry I'm late," said Karen putting her stuff down on the desk. "Oh, um" grace looked at her watch and then the clock on the wall just to make sure her clock wasn't wrong. "Your not late" Karen laughed, "oh, just a reflex to say that I guess," Karen sat down at her desk and glanced up at Grace every couple of seconds just to see if she had noticed how pretty Karen looked today. Grace did notice how gorgeous she looked today, but it was nothing new, Karen looked absolutely stunning every single day of the week, every day of they year. "We're actually both about a half hour early today" said Grace. There was a long pause; Karen knew she had to say what they were both thinking. She stood up and made her way over to grace, whose stomach was showing slightly, and Karen could hardly resist holding her closely but she did and uttered, "Was yesterday a mistake?" There was an awkward pause, Grace was expecting her to say that, and she wanted to say, 'no absolutely not it was the best day of my life I love you! I am in love with you Karen Walker and it took me until yesterday to realize it!' but instead, Grace said, "I don't know, what do you think?" Karen wanted to say, 'no absolutely not it was the best day of my life I love you! I am in love with you Grace Adler!' but instead she said, "I, I don't know." Karen began to walk back to her desk heartbroken, but Grace grabbed her forearm and turned her around roughly and pressed her mouth to Karen's. Karen's toes curled in her pumps, and she breathed in deeply. They stumbled to the wall and Karen took her shirt off and Grace kissed her perfect cleavage lightly, Karen let out a slight moan and Grace felt as though she had control over Karen at this moment, Karen was so vulnerable and exposed Grace liked knowing that she could just break her heart, and at the thought of that she whispered in Karen's ear, "I'll never hurt you"

Words Karen's body tingled upon hearing, men had told her they loved her, they told her they'd always take care of her, they said that she was beautiful and wonderful, but this, she assured the most important thing she felt with Grace, among many many other things, security, knowing that if they weren't always going to be lovers, they'd at least be best friends. Karen knew they were about to go a lot farther a lot quicker than they did yesterday to she pulled away from Grace's passionate kiss and said, "not here" If it was anyone else, any other person on the earth Karen would have made love to them in the most random, raunchy, unpleasing places, but for her first time having sex with grace, she wanted it to be nothing less than perfect, she wanted it to be romantic, passionate, fiery, and most of all, meaningful, and a quicky before work seemed far from that. Grace didn't question Karen's retreat she just kissed her lightly on her lips one more time before going back to work. All day long Karen gazed at Grace, her newfound love. God was she really doing this? If someone, one week previous had told Karen that her and Grace would be madly in love and fool around in the office, she would have laughed them off making a smart comment like, "How? Wouldn't her hair tangle around my body and suffocate me?" and for thinking she'd say anything remotely of the sort, she frowned. Then her train of thought changed direction, what set them off in the first place? What was it that made them just falling so hard and fast in love? Maybe they subconsciously knew all along they were in love, but something had to trigger it. Grace was sad, which made Karen sad; can other emotions trigger different emotions? Out of Grace's tears came love, but why? Karen pondered this momentarily and came to the conclusion, emotions are all the same, they just make the real you come out, and since Karen showed little emotion, no one had ever really seen the real her, but when Grace cried a part of her came out, the part of her that subconsciously loved Grace for all these years, a part she herself wasn't even aware of. She silently vowed to show more emotions from there on, but knowing that she couldn't, unless it was with Grace.

They shut down the office early, after a slow day of various phone call coming in one every hour, and a couple faxed being sent. Grace had secretly cancelled a meeting with a client that day and rescheduled it for Monday so she could just be alone in the office with Karen, and listen to her beautiful voice hum commercial jingles. They chatted awhile too, but nothing out of the ordinary, about the weather, new movies, friends, stuff that normally would have been considered small talk, but now it just meant so much, Karen was addicted to Grace's every word and Grace was longing every breath Karen took. Five minutes before closing Grace said to Karen, "hey Karen, Will and Jack are going to see RENT tonight, you wanna come over?" Karen smiled, 'perfect' she thought, "Sure honey," she said shuffling papers on grace's desk, trying to tidy up a bit, "What time?" Grace almost laughed with joy but contained herself to a normal state of mind, "around seven?" Karen agreed, Grace usually stopped at the bank, the doughnut shop and the farm stand before heading home on Fridays but this Friday she went straight home, and began to cook a romantic meal for her and Karen.

"Who's all this for? You have a date tonight?" said Will, upon the feast Grace was preparing in the Kitchen; he was in front of the mirror fixing his tie. "No, Karen's coming over though, and we're going to have a girl's night" she said, she knew she wasn't exactly lying to Will, but she felt bad not telling him the whole truth, and she felt miserable not telling anyone, but her and Karen took a vow of secrecy without either of them actually verbally agreeing to anything, they just knew, this was their little secret. "All this just for Karen? Well she IS the antichrist." Will chuckled at his own joke, Grace pretended to giggle as well, although she didn't find it funny, and she thought that was odd because two weeks ago, she'd be rolling with laughter at this statement. "Haha, yep, all for me and Karen, Karen's feeling a little blue," she lied, "I'm just trying to cheer her up!" Jack enters combing his hair. "Look who I found!" he dragged in Karen. He slapped Karen's butt and Karen grabbed his package, Grace was slightly jealous. "Okay come on Jack we're going to be late!" said Will rushing out of the apartment grabbing Jack with him, "Escalator!" said Jack just before the door shut, Grace looked at Karen's glowing smile, "Hey honey" said Karen. "Ya look amazing like usual Kare, ya hungry?" Karen shook her head yes, then they both sat down at the table, Grace close to Karen and they ate, soon after the meal was over and the table was cleared they were out of excuses not to do what they knew they both wanted to do………


	4. Girls Night

"More wine?" Grace offered, already knowing the answer. "Sure" Karen raised her glass and Grace filled it. Karen was slightly uncomfortable in the silence. "So, you wanna watch a movie? I rented this one movie, um" she gets up and walks to the counter and picks up DVD and reads the title and says, "Love Actually, it's supposed to be really sweet" Grace held the movie to her chest. Karen liked seeing Grace in a romantic way, usually she saw her as kind of childish, and Karen was the more mature one, the one with the experience and the answers, but when it came down to sexuality, Grace knew what she was doing. Karen guided her and she went, Karen knew what she wanted and Grace knew how to meet those needs. "Lemme change into my pajamas," said Grace hopping along playfully to her bedroom. "You can change too if ya want Kare!" Grace shouted from the other room. Karen got up from her seat at the table and grabbed her prada bag, which had in it, pajamas, cigarettes, pills, a toothbrush and some gum. Karen was planning on staying the night, she knew Grace said her and Jack were doing a boys night then staying at Joe and Larry's so they were free to do whatever they wanted all night with complete privacy and no fear of getting caught. The fact that their newfound love was a secret made it all the better, they loved that they could do everything that they did and still appear on the surface to be closely acquainted colleagues but deep down share a strong sexual bond that was more than mutual.

In the bathroom Karen took a pill. She usually would have took three or four but she wanted to be as sober as she could manage for her evening with Grace, when she is on her pills everything is usually foggy and she can't remember it all, her days are a blur. But ever since that first kiss, she never wanted to forget anything, Grace's scent, her words, her breathing pattern, how she sleeps, and anything and everything else about her. Grace was in her room pacing the floor, she had finished changing moments ago but she felt that she needed to collect her nerves before making her way back out into the room. She made her bed and picked up some clothes scattered on the floor and threw them in her closet, she wanted everything to be perfect if they ended up in there later, which they both hoped would happen, I mean that's why they were there right?

Grace walked out and stood in front of the bathroom door and knocked on it lightly. "Karen? You in there?" she said sweetly. "Yeah, yeah hold on" Karen bit her lip and tugged at her gray pajamas then opened the door. "Do you have to take a shower tonight?" asked Grace. "Oh yeah I think that I do." Confessed Karen. "Well do you want to do it now?" Karen pondered it, no, right now she wanted to sit on the couch and watch Grace's dumb little movie and hold her tightly I her arms. "No we have time, It's still early." Grace smiled and they made their way to the couch. Karen ran in front of Grace lightly shoving her out of the way and pretending to take up the entire couch, but then she scooted over when she saw Grace's amused look and Karen let Grace's body lay on top of hers and she let her arms come around Grace's waist and she found herself letting her lips rest on Grace's hair. Grace clicked the TV and they watched almost all of the movie, they were both still wide awake, although Karen secretly hoped that instead of having sex, that Grace would just fall asleep in her arms and she could hold her all night, but when the credits rolled Grace popped up cheerfully, "You want me to start the shower for ya?" Karen smiled, Grace was a good host, and she cared about her guests. Well maybe she wasn't a good host to everybody but she was definitely good to her, "Sure" Grace hopped up and glided to the bathroom, Karen followed her with no apprehension, and she leaned in the doorway and swung her leg on the other side. "Here ya go, here's your towel and you go this way for hot and this way for cold" Grace smiled. "Thanks honey." Karen said making her way in, Grace turned to leave but she decided to stay and watch Karen undress…

MORE TO COME A.S.A.P, I try to write as often as I can, usually I write after school, so my next chapter won't take long! Thanks for all of your reviews guys I really appreciate it! It definitely inspires me to go on and keep writing! This is about to get pretty steamy so I'm going to change the rating to M


	5. The Shower

Karen was aware of Grace's presence in the cracked doorway, and Grace knew Karen knew or else she wouldn't be standing there, she didn't want to sneak up on Karen or invade her privacy, but Karen knew Grace was watching her while she slipped off her silky shirt over her head, she took off her earrings, and her necklace. Grace watched her, her perfect skin, she noticed a scar on Karen's back, and she was surprised she hadn't noticed it before, "Where did you get that scar on your back?" asked Grace, Karen took off her pants, not looking at Grace and said, "Oh," she turned her head around as much as it could go but it was hopeless she couldn't see, so she looked in the mirror, "hmm, I'm not sure, I think that was back in '89 when Rosario and I had our first annual Christmas Death match."

Grace laughed; Karen turned around and looked herself in the mirror, "You know, I've always been jealous of Rosario," started Grace, "She gets to be with you every single day." Karen smiled at this sweet comment, she was a sucker for sweet talk, she turned around quickly and Grace's expression shifted slightly from joking around to seriousness. "Yeah? Well I've always been so jealous of Will…" she trailed off but ended with a whisper, "you used to love him…" Grace came at Karen fiercely and both her hands on Karen's forehead and pushed her head back so their mouths would meet, Since Karen was basically undressed, she helped Grace take her clothes off, Karen threw Grace's perfect body against the wall of the shower, Grace reached up with the hand that wasn't caressing Karen's smooth skin and turned on the water, instantly the room began to steam from the water's heat. Karen's waist pressed against Grace's and Karen grit her teeth in passion. Her hair was flat, and her mascara ran down her face. Grace held Karen's wet hair and ran her fingers threw it, grasping it tightly but gently. With every slight and thrust of movement they made together, they became less and less two people and began to be just one person, connected. They met each others needs perfectly, Karen gazed into Grace's flawless eyes and saw for the first time, true love, something she'd never felt before, and she just wanted to be even closer to Grace. "Karen," Grace moaned. Karen kissed her lips briefly then moved to her neck, she went to her chest then stomach, pretty soon she was on her knees and Grace's toes were curled and her back arched with every twist and turn Karen decided to make. Karen stood up, water streaming down her face they laughed lightly as they kissed at the ultimate pleasure they both had received, Grace turned off the shower and began to step out when they both heard, "Grace?" It was Will. "Hurry up G I have to go!" Jack. "Shit" said Karen laughing. "What do we do?" asked Grace desperately. They were both smirking. Grace went to wrap a towel around her waist and she stepped on Karen's foot. "OW!" said Karen. "What?" asked Will, "h-OW was your evening?" Grace gave a confused look and Karen laughed into Grace's shoulder Grace laughed too silently. "Awful, RENT was cancelled because…" Will trailed off; Grace and Karen were in quickly debating what their next desperate move was. "Okay, I'll go out and distract them into the hallway, then you make a run for my room and change into your clothes then come out okay?" Karen was in awe of the genius of Grace's plan; she was planning on hiding in the shower for the next three days. "Okay." Grace wrapped the towel around her and handed Karen all of her clothes, "Wait till I say the word, 'penguin' then run into the next room." Grace began to leave, "Penguin?" asked Karen smiling at Grace's innocence. "Yes, that word always workable into a sentence!" Grace opened and shut the door; Will had just finished his sentence and expected her to say something back, "Oh, too bad" said Grace taking her chances, "Okay I gotta pee" said Jack almost entering the bathroom but Grace put her arm out blocking his entry. "Hold on I wanna show you guys something in the hallway," she began to shove them out. "Show me after I really gotta go!" grace put her arm out again and gave him a deathly stare, "Look now." Jack backed up and they all went into the hallway, Grace made sure the door was open so Karen could hear her cue. "What is it Grace?" said Will looking around at the empty hallway. Jack stood there dancing back and forth with his legs crossed "Yeah Grace what is it?" he said very frustrated. "It's a," she leaned in the door and raised her voice "PENGUIN like water stain on the ceiling" she said smiling and pointing up, as they boys looked up at the penguinless ceiling she looked in and made sure Karen was safely in her room then she turned back to the boys who turned back to her. "Oh it's not there anymore? Oh too bad, Oh well, come on back in." They followed her and Jack rushed into the bathroom. Karen rushed to put her clothes on and shake her hair as dry as she possibly could. "Why are you taking a shower again? You just took one before Karen got here?" he said looking around, "Where IS Karen?" Grace smiled, "Oh she's putting her pj's on in my room" Will looked at Grace suspiciously trying to put together whatever the weirdness Grace was hiding was, he could tell she was acting odd. "What aren't you telling me Gracey Adler" he looked deep into her eyes searching for the answer. "Oh MY GOD!" said Will. Grace put her hand on her forehead, "I know-" she began "You got the new People magazine and you didn't even tell me?" said Will reaching for the magazine on the coffee table. "Hey I'm going to grab a blanket from your room Grace," said Jack coming out of the bathroom. "No Jack! Don't go in there!" Grace shouted but he opened the door and yelled "Jesus Mary and Joseph!"

TO BE CONTINUED


	6. Close Call

Now Jack wasn't the smartest person but he wasn't an idiot, he knew very well what had been going on and he made the split decision, as he looked into Karen's pleading eyes, not to tell Will. "You got new bed sheets?" he asked. Karen smiled thankfully at his desperate gesture to hide his astonishment. "Oh wait these aren't new, Karen handed him the blanket off the bed, since that was what he intended to get, although he came upon so much more, he almost had to laugh, he was honestly so happy that they had hooked up, he wanted to just give Karen a huge kiss and hug, but didn't for two obvious reasons, number one, he was hiding it from Will because obviously they didn't want him to know about this, and second of all, she was naked and soaking wet, not that that had ever stopped them before, but he slowly backed out and shut the door.

"You guys are acting weird today," said Will, looking at Grace at Jack suspiciously. Will went to the fridge and Grace looked at Jack distressingly. "Well, maybe your acting strange." Said Jack trying to take the heat off of Grace and Karen. Karen came out of the back room; her hair up in a towel not to reveal they were both wet and had gotten out of the shower they had taken together. She had wiped off the run mascara and eyeliner and applied more on, Grace looked at Karen and sensed her nervousness, and she was truly beautiful. Will turned around from the fridge with bottled water in his hands, he went and sat down. "So Karen, what time are you leaving? And why do you have a towel on your head?" he asked politely but aggressively. Will was so oblivious, but you couldn't blame him, it was a stretch, Grace and Karen, no one ever really could've expected it, not even Grace and Karen. "Me and Grace were having a girls night and she washed my hair. She's going to give me cornrows." Grace smirked, god she was so quick, nice save Kare. "Oh fun." Admitted Will. Jack giggled to Grace behind Will's back, Grace was so relieved jack acted this way, she knew it didn't bother him and she knew she would probably get the same reaction from Will but she just couldn't tell him, he would analyze it deeply and she didn't want to think about it because it probably was wrong, but she didn't care and she didn't want to know what was wrong about it because she'd never been so in love and happy in her life, she couldn't risk it. Because although Will's friendship meant oh so much to Grace, she wouldn't do anything in the world to jeopardize her and Karen's thing they had which is remaining nameless, was it a relationship? Hardly. Was it a fling? No. What was it? It's love, that's what it was, love, Grace remembered the song all you need is love and she hummed, bum ba bum bum bum in her head.

"Well, we don't want to keep you from your girls night, you guys deserve it you both" Will paused and smiled at Karen, "Grace works so hard, you deserve it sweetie" he kissed Grace and he went for his coat "I'll just stay at Jack's apartment tonight right?" Jack smiled and nodded vigorously, "Yeah sure!" Will questioned his enthusiasm with a crooked smile. Then Will walked out the door, "Hold on Will, here's the key," Jack threw will the key, "I'll be a second I have to tell; Karen a finny story about something that happened today with the hum, and the wha? And the Boom!" Jack shut the door and threw his back against it hard and smiled proudly at the girls. "OH! MY! GOD!" He shouted, syllable by syllable. Grace covered her face and Karen shrugged her shoulders. "Well tell me everything of course!" he dove on the sofa and Karen and Grace sat on either side of him. "How long?" he asked. "Not, long just a couple days sheesh Jack it's not a big deal!" said Grace, Karen felt the same way but was kind of disappointed Grace saw it the same way, she thought Grace felt more strongly then she did, but maybe she felt more strongly than Grace. "Wow, the second I walked in and saw Karen scrambling to get her clothes on, I knew it, oh wow this is fantastic, so it's only been what two days? And you're already in the shower with each other? God, that is fabulous, I've always admired the lesbians because their sex is so complicated, god bless 'em for trying! So tell me, was it good? I mean your suppose to get clean in showers but I have a feeling you two just got very dirty!" he tapped his finger on his chin. Grace and Karen both knew it was, it was beyond good, but they both laughed and smacked him playfully, "So when are you going to tell William?" he said moving his lips to the left side of his face. Karen looked at Grace, "Whenever Grace is ready," she said, and Karen grasped Grace's wrist and caressed it lightly. Grace smiled, "I don't know when that's going to be, hopefully soon, please don't tell him though Jack" pleaded Grace. "Of course G" he got up, and walked to the door, "I'm so happy for you two, have fun tonight. I'll need all the details by tomorrow morning!" He shut the door. Karen squeezed Grace's arm where she was holding and then stood up. "That was close," she said. "I know, very close," replied Grace, she sensed something was wrong with Karen, "What's the matter, Karen went back towards Grace's room. "Nothing" she echoed, then she shut Grace's door. Grace stood up; she walked over to her door in her towel that was getting uncomfortably wet. She knocked on the door and heard no response so she just walked in. Karen was folding an cleaning up the mess she made trying to get all of her clothes on in a hurry, Grace dropped her towel by the closet and threw some underwear, pajama pants and a blue tank top on. Although Karen was upset, she couldn't help but look at Grace's beautiful body. "Karen what's the matter" Grace said finally. Karen exhaled deeply, "What is this Grace?" Karen sat on the bed and looked down at her soft hands, she twisted a ring on her finger. Grace turned out of the closet and looked the back on Karen, her head was hung low, and it pained Grace to see Karen sad. "What's what?" Grace crept slowly towards her and put her hands on her shoulders. "What are we doing here?" she whispered, and then she turned to Grace, "Does this mean anything to you? Or am I just a friend your fooling around with" she said, marked with a sad tone and her sweet Oklahoma accent Grace was never a hundred percent sure where she'd gotten it from. "Grace slid up next to Karen and put both of her legs on either side of Karen, she let her arms embrace Karen's stomach softly and she rested her head on Karen's left shoulder. Grace's soothing affection made Karen tear up. "Because I don't want it to mean less, because I think that I love you" Karen said during a failed attempt to hold back tears. They didn't move. "Karen, I promised you I'd never hurt you, and now I'm promising this, I could never stop loving you." Karen whimpered. "Your not just a friend I fool around with, you're the one, and I'm restless knowing you've been here this long and I've never noticed it before, God how could I have been so stupid, thinking I could have loved anyone but you. I know better now though," Grace squeezed tight. "I know better now" Karen bit her lips and felt tears streaming down her face, Karen slid up in the bed, Grace walked around the house turning off all of the lights she made it back into her room, shut her light off and got into the bed, she slid next to Karen and she held her close, she covered them up.

They lay like that for about an hour, they were still both wide-awake, then Karen broke the silence by saying, "Grace, what were you like as a kid?" Grace smiled at the childlike of Karen's question. "Well, smaller, shorter, but pretty much the same," she said, Karen thought a moment then said, "What did you like to do?" Grace thought a moment, "I loved soccer, I always liked to play with my friend Kenny Lomna, we were good friends growing up, he was my neighbor, I got pretty good at it, but then we had to move, I never saw him again. I liked to watch TV a lot; my sister and me would make up dances to the commercials. Ha, my favorite color was purple, and I wanted to do my room in purple everything, and there was this one fuzzy purple pillow, I wanted it so bad, it was so cool, none of the other kids had one, so I asked for it for my birthday, never got it." Karen rolled her head. "What were you like as a kid Karen?" Karen sighed, "Well honey, I all of the early years are just a huge blur now, me and my mom would move monthly, conning different families out of the hard earned money. I remember all of my teenaged years though, when I was fifteen I was on drugs pretty bad." There was a silence; if Grace hadn't already been hugging her she would have started to now. "It started off with just, just smoking you know, but then it grew into this huge coke addiction out of nowhere. But then I met my first love, her name was Crystal, she was pretty, blonde, soft. She helped me quit, she talked me through painful withdrawals and was by my side the entire time, but then my mom had to go and tell her that I had to go to rehab, although I didn't and she got about five hundred dollars from her, when Crystal found out, she though I had been in on it the whole time and never was on drugs or anything, god I'd of given anything to change that look on her face when me and my mom sped away in our car, she was so heart broken, I wish she could've seen through the tinted glass, she'd of seen I had on the same face." The silence was painful. "You know, I've forgiven my mom. That was just who she was, but I'll never forgive myself for what I did to that girl, and I never even got to say thank you." Grace gave Karen a huge kiss a little below her ear and they lay there until they were both fast asleep.


	7. Karen Woke Up First

Karen woke up first, she slid underneath Grace's arm and she looked up and realized neither of them had moved since they had fallen asleep, she didn't want Grace to see her with no makeup on so she ran to the bathroom and smudged some eyeliner, some pale lipstick and mascara on then entered the kitchen, she tried to be as quiet as possible, she wanted Grace to remain sleeping for awhile, she looked so peaceful. Karen poured herself a glass of water and grabbed her purse of the dining room table and took a bottle of pills out of it, she hated taking her pills, most people thought her pills were so she could get high, that they were uppers, downers, hallucinogens, and a lot of them were, but these, these were her heart pills. Karen had a bad heart, and she had since she was young according to the doctors and she had to take these heart medications, frequently. She didn't like people feeling sorry for her, so she just let them think she was a druggy, she was used to being called that anyways so it didn't really bother her.

She started up the coffee maker hoping it would be ready and nice and warm for Grace when she got up. She threw some toast in the toaster and lit a cigarette while she waited for it to pop. Her smoking was another thing that she hated but it also enslaved her, she just had an addictive personality, always had. She looked around in the apartment, it was so empty, and quiet. For the first time, she felt like she wasn't just a friend visiting at the house but she was welcome there anytime and like it was her home away from home. She loved this feeling, usually when she woke up at her various partner's homes in the morning, she was hid in the closet so the persons wife wouldn't find her, or she scampered off because she had no idea how she ended up there, she liked this feeling, security, stability…love? Her toast popped and she jumped slightly, dropping ashes on her foot, "Shit" she yelled at a whisper in pain. She brushed them off with her other foot and held it momentarily, then she took the toast out and threw it on a plate and put chunky peanut butter on it just the way she liked it. She walked into the other room and turned on the television but put it so quiet she couldn't even hear it, she didn't mind, she wasn't really watching it anyways, she was dreaming. Dreaming about Grace, dreaming about her touch, her words, her scent, the way she smiled. It seemed all she did was dream lately, sometimes her dreams became so vivid it seemed real, and she didn't mind she loved escaping reality, but then when she was with Grace and it was actually real, that's when she didn't believe it was happening, she believed her dreams but she hardly believed reality, because she never imagined she'd be lucky enough to have Grace, Grace was perfection and she was a wreck but for some reason Grace had her now, and she had this distant thought that Grace would never let go, maybe it was just her usual sense of false security but it felt different this time, it felt real.

Karen felt herself smiling but then sensed she was being watched so she quickly wiped it off and looked up from her last bite of toast she held in her cold hands. Grace was standing there smiling at her, "morning Karen," she said while yawning. "Hi honey, did you sleep well?" Grace stretched her arms and then put her forehead to her knees then yawned again even louder then popped back up, flipping her hair behind her head. "Ooo you made coffee?" she asked. Karen smiled, very pleased of herself that she did it right. See! She could be a good girlfriend if she tried, that's what they were now, a couple, Karen was Grace's girlfriend and Karen was hers, it was never spoken of or agreed on verbally but they both knew now, that was it, and if the country permitted them, they'd elope because they knew that nothing in the world could break what they had, it was just obvious. Grace poured herself a glass of coffee and took a huge sip of it then poured Karen some and brought it to her. Grace sat next to Karen on the couch, but they didn't touch, they just sat as normal friends did although Grace did entangle her feet with Karen's little feet. "God Karen your hands are freezing" she said as she handed her the cup of coffee, Karen took a sip then set it down, "Here" said Grace, she took Karen's hands and placed them between her hands and rubbed back and forth, Karen gazed into Grace's eyes but Grace focused intently on warming up Karen, because when one was in any condition below perfect, the other wouldn't rest until they were back to being completely satisfied, and that's why Karen never told Grace her constant pain and Grace never told Karen hers because they both knew it would distress the other causing them to have more stress and their extreme passion for each other wouldn't allow that. Subconsciously Grace knew Karen wasn't a happy person, that's why she always held her so gently, and even though she knew Karen liked it rough, she liked to be knocked around a little bit, Grace was so gentle, she took her in her arms with care, as if she was holding an infant, Karen wasn't an infant, but she was an angel, especially when she slept. Grace didn't sleep much that night, she stayed up for most of it just looking at Karen sleep, thinking, but surprisingly she had never felt more rested.

Grace Kissed Karen's hands and then set them back down, feeling she had done all she could to warm them. Then she slipped off her pink silky slippers and put them on Karen's feet but then tucked her own feet onto the couch, they kept their distance from one another but they had never felt closer, and they watched television for their first morning of the rest of their lives together, neither of them could tell you what they were watching because neither of them were watching, they were dreaming….

OKAY, NOT ONE OF MY NICE DIRTY CHAPTERS, BUT I WAS TRYING TO CAPTURE THE INTENSITY THEY FELT FOR EACH OTHER AND HOW EMOTIONALLY VALIDATED THEY ARE TOGETHER, IT'S JUST THE THOUGHTS RUNNING THROUGH THEIR HEADS. JUST A LITTLE INSIGHT ON HOW, SENTIMENTAL GRACE IS, AND HOW SWEET AND THOUGHTFUL KAREN TRIES TO BE TO GRACE, EVEN THOUGH SHE'D NEVER BEEN THAT WAY TO ANYONE BEFORE.

MORE COMING SOON!

STAY TUNED AND I'LL BE BACK AFTER THIS COMMERCIAL BREAK, NOW A WORD FROM MY SPONSERS, DOUBLEMINT GUM!


	8. Something To Talk About

Karen got dressed and packed up all of her things, she felt like she had to go home and take a shower…alone, and just refresh herself. Grace watched her pack her things but then went into the living room and sat on the couch. She lay on her back and looked at the ceiling, she noticed a red spot, 'what was that from?' she wondered. 'Oh, the whole spaghetti fiasco last summer' she chuckled to herself then Karen walked out so she sat up. "Well honey I'll call you later alright?" said Karen sweetly as she dialed a number on her cell phone. "Yeah driver? I need picked up at Will and Grace's apartment, yeah…NO DON'T BRING THE KIDS!" she hung up. "Well bye Gracie, thanks for everything." Grace walked up to her and opened the door. Grace walked her

to the elevator, it opened and Karen leaned out awkwardly, like a teenager on a first date, she swayed her left foot back and forth in front of her and watched the floor, "Well…bye" she looked up innocently, Grace smiled at her, slightly, then brought

Karen's lips to her own and brushed them lightly, then repeated it. She let her hand linger on Karen's cheek even though their faces weren't together anymore, the elevator dinged and Grace watched it close, and Karen tilted her head at a last attempt to look at her Grace, then it shut. Karen exhaled deeply in the elevator; she wanted to just jump up smiling and laughing. She was in love! She was in love! But she didn't she looked at her shoes, she let some of her hair fall in front of her face, covering it up, and she smiled really big, but then she inhaled; perked up and put her shoulders back and the elevator dinged and she walked out, like a lady. Grace turned from the elevator and Jack was really close to her face. "Morning!" Grace did a sudden little yelp but then sighed and held her hand to her chest, "God Jack you scared me!" she said, he just laughed then he flaunted over to her door and she followed him, she knew he was going to hound her for intimate details. Grace shut the door behind her, Jack was already on the couch on the far left, leaving it very inviting for Grace to sit down next to him. Grace slowly made her way to the couch but didn't sit down just yet. "Where's Will?" she said motioning to the doorway, as if he'd come in and hear everything she was about to tell Jack. Jack was a very untrustworthy person when it came to keeping secrets, unless it was actually important, he knew when it was time to quit being himself and actually become a good friend, this was one of those times so she trusted him. "Oh sleeping, come on spill the beans, what happened after I left?" he tapped the seat next to him, Grace pretended to be hesitant but she wasn't, she was dying to tell somebody about how amazing Karen was, and now she could, it was perfect. Jack gazed into her eagerly awaiting her dirty details. "God Jack she's amazing," Grace started. Jack smiled approvingly, knowing what she was saying was completely true. Karen WAS amazing. Grace wasn't sure if Karen would be upset if she told Jack all of the dirty details, not that it was a secret or she'd be embarrassed, but Grace figured Karen would want to tell him herself, but then she realized, Jack would still be just as eager to hear her side of the story so she began to tell him anyways. "Well she came over, obviously, and you and Will were supposed to be gone all night long seeing RENT, so we thought we were going to be alone, she wanted to take a shower, so I set it up for her, got her towels, and turned the water on" Grace looked at his completely interested expression, sop she continued to tell him the story, in detail, knowing that no matter how raunchy or graphic she was, he didn't care, because he had probably said worse to either her or Will, describing one of his one night stands, not that Karen was a one night stand, of course not, but Grace wasn't holding back on information, and Jack knew it so he didn't say a word for the whole twenty minutes of Grace's description. Jack was beside himself with happiness for them, he used to go into Grace's office and watch Karen and Grace together, there was always this sexual tension there, this 'what if' kind of aura around them and now it wasn't there anymore, it was over with and they were happy. Jack always wanted to say something about it, he was some match maker, but it seemed impossible, both of them being straight and Karen being married and Grace in and out of relationships, but now Stan was dead and Grace was broken up with Leo, so what was stopping them? It wasn't like either of them had never been with a woman before, although Karen more than Grace, but Grace found it was stupid to limit yourself to one sex, she figured, you fall in love with the PERSON, it has nothing to do with race, ethnicity, religion, age, or gender, it was about the person, if you loved them and they loved you there shouldn't be one reason that someone can come up with to separate the two of you, and that's what Karen and Grace had. They didn't care what people thought because they were so in love they felt that no one's opinion could change their feelings, and it was truly euphoria. They still didn't want to tell Will, well Grace didn't, she knew that although no one could change their feelings, she would hate loosing Will in this way, especially since she was so close to doing it before, with the whole Danny thing, she had always said since then that her friends came before her lovers, but Karen was her friend too, oh god euphoria gone. Of course Will would be happy for them, I mean they were both two girls and that would make him pretty hypocritical to judge…but he wouldn't be upset because of that, him and Karen never really had gotten along, well neither did her and Grace…maybe that's just how Karen was? She'll treat ya like crap but she loves ya. Okay, she was going to tell Will, she HAD to tell Will. She'd tell him alone though, just in case there were some details that she wanted to leave out and Karen accidentally let slide, but she'd tell Karen she was telling him to make sure that she had no problem with it. 'Oh crap' thought Grace, there had must have been a very awkward silence when she was thinking all of this because Jack was looking at her like she was crazy, she knew the look well. "I have to tell Will," she said. Jack stared at her, making sure that was all she had to say. "I know. It's okay, you don't have to be nervous, he'll understand, he's your best friend Grace," Grace sat up and grasped both of Jack's hands. "I'm scared," Grace wasn't lying; she was terrified of what he'd say. "Okay Grace brace yourself sweetheart because I'm about to give you the key to getting one hundred percent approval from Mr. Will Truman," Grace was intrigued, jack placed his hands on her shoulders. "Now you have to promise to only use this if absolutely necessary," his eyes were looking deep into hers. This had to be big. "Okay, remember that time that you and Will got into that HUGE fight about, I don't know, pants, or taxes or Eddie Murphy or something?" Grace smiled, she had no idea where this was going, but her mind was racing a million miles a minute, she remembered the fight, it was about her ex fiancé Danny. "Will wanted me to stay the night and keep him company because he was SO upset about you leaving, so I stayed the night." Grace smiled obliviously, 'what a good friend Jack is she thought' Jack nodded slowly with his eyes slanted. "Okay I see that you're not following. Whoooo, okay how should I say this gently, hum tidly dum….Me and Will slept together" he slapped his thighs then stood up, it felt good for him to finally tell Grace, he knew Will never would in a million years, it kind of hurt him that he wouldn't, but hey it was all in the past, nothing came of it anyways, it was just one drunken tearful night. "WOAH!" said Grace jumping off the couch. "That's big!" she paused and changed her tone completely, "Why didn't he ever tell me? Why didn't you ever tell me?" she slapped his chest repeatedly, "How come you never told me ya big jerk!" "OW OW OW!" yelped Jack. "I was sworn to secrecy, but now, your in need and as a good friend, I'm giving you this information to use as you please, you can tell him I told you or not, but I just really hope I helped you in some way or another. Good day," Jack turned to leave. "Hey Jack!" Grace said before leaving, she bit her bottom lip and walked over to him, arms crossed, "Thanks for doing this for me, it was exactly what I needed," she kissed him on the cheek. She could feel Jack smiling. "You can do it, be brave," and then he left, she shut the door and pushed her back against it then slowly slid down it onto the floor, she exhaled deeply, 'wow this is it' she though, I can do it, he'll understand! About an hour and a half later, Will walked into the door, Grace had moved over to rug on the floor next to the couch, she didn't want to sleep so she refused to lie on the comfortable sofa, Will walked towards her and stood over her and chuckled, "What are you doing on the floor?" Grace sat up, "Um, Will? There's somethin' I need to tell ya."


	9. Not Now Not Here

Will didn't think much of Grace's gesture, it was probably nothing important, he made his way over to the refrigerator and go some water out and opened it, Grace made her way to the end of the kitchen, 'was this where I want to tell him?' she thought…'no' "Hey come sit on the porch with me, it's nice out." They walked onto the porch; Will was still in his pajama pants and Grace still in her's.

He smiled vaguely at her, she breathed out deeply, smiling big. Okay, this is it. "Will, you know yesterday…when you guys came home early from RENT?" she began.

"Yeah." He said monotonously, he was fiddling with the plant next to him, pulling out some weeds that had grown, then he got off the chair and kneeled down beside the plant, looking inside, grooming it. She couldn't do it, she couldn't. "Never mind" she said, and she walked back inside. She raced to her room, and threw on some jeans, a tank top and some make-up, she wanted to look nice where she was going, so she brushed her teeth and ran to the door. "Where you going?" asked Will. She wasn't afraid in him finding out that something was going on between her and Karen, she was afraid of telling him so she didn't even try to hide it, "To Karen's" She slammed the door, she was completely stressed out, this was a huge deal, to her anyways.

"Rosario?" asked Grace as she entered Karen's mansion, "Hi where's Karen?" Rosario smiled cunningly. Karen had obviously told her. "Upstairs Chica, and be gentle with my Miss Karen," she joked. Grace giggled, she was glad everyone was knowing, it was fun letting it be their secret but she wanted everyone in the world to know, she didn't care, she wanted her and Karen to go out in public, hold hands, kiss, go to movies together, go on romantic dinners.

She entered Karen's room; she wasn't in there, but that was where Rosario said she'd be. That was odd, she opened the door to the bathroom and Karen was in the bathtub, asleep. Grace's first impression was fear, was Karen really stupid enough to fall asleep in a bathtub? She could drown! But then she felt…good, Karen was in her bathtub, naked, and she knew Karen was no idiot, although it came off that way sometimes. It was all apart of her cruel light headed cold hearted image that she gave off, but Grace knew better, Karen was just a normal person. God no she wasn't, she was far from normal. She was a goddess. Grace snuck up to her quietly, she was almost afraid to startle her, she just wanted to gaze at her a few more seconds, so peaceful, her make up still flawless although she was I the bathtub, did she ever not look beautiful?

Grace said quietly, "Hey Kare?" Karen opened her eyes immediately and sat up slightly, still not revealing any of her body below her cleavage. There was a little bit of bubbles on Karen's chin and Grace wiped it off. "Did you tell Will?" was the first thing out of Karen's mouth, "Almost," said Grace. She could tell Karen as slightly disappointed, but not angry, she knew how hard it was for Grace to get it out. "Come here," said Karen puckering her lips, Grace went in and turned her face and Karen kissed her cheek, "Wanna come in here with me?" asked Karen seductively and playfully, swirling the water around with her index finger. Grace laughed at her lover's impulsiveness but shook her head no. "Can't we do that someplace other than a bathroom?" she offered. Karen looked distraught for a moment, but then said, "Hand me a towel wouldja honey?" Grace did so and then turned around as Karen got out of the tub and wrapped it around her, she dried herself off then put on her silk robe, she looked at Grace, her hair shined brightly with all the light that was coming in from the windows, it was a bluish glaze over her and the water reflected and made gleaming waves of light flow over her body, Grace was irresistible, Karen came at her fiercely from behind and flipped her over and she wrapped her arms around her and Grace lifted Karen up slightly, they backed up into Karen's bedroom and Karen carefully, shoved Grace on the bed.

Last night Grace was in control and was dominant while Karen sunk into submission, this time it was Karen's turn. Karen's robe remained on as she helped pull Grace's shirt off, Grace kissed Karen as Karen unhooked Grace's bra. Grace panted slightly in Karen's ear, followed by a faint moan, Karen loved when Grace moaned. It told her she was good. Karen smiled as she ran her nose and lips from Grace's chest to her stomach and then she went back up, lacing Grace's smooth skin with light kisses, Karen loved it rough, but she didn't like being rough to anyone else, especially her Grace. Grace suddenly sensed Karen's fierce desire for rough passion, and she flipped Karen underneath her and ran her hand through Karen's hair that was wet at the tips, she squeezed tightly. Last night it had to be soft, gentle, romantic, sweet, but now it was all about pleasure and they both wanted to have a little fun. Karen sat up, and Grace did as well, they knew each other's every move, and exactly what each other wanted, something neither of them had ever had before.

Their bodies pressed against each other's in ecstasy, Grace tore off Karen's robe and tossed it behind her, Karen slid up to the head of the bed, never leaving Grace's mouth. Grace slid on top of her, she grabbed Karen's wrists tightly, Karen's fingers streamed down Grace's bare back, they slipped under the covers and Grace slipped into Karen.

When it was over, unlike most of Karen's sexual encounters, her partner didn't scurry out of the room. Grace stayed and held Karen and was held by Karen until they were both ready to part their ways until they met again.

Grace got dressed, leaned onto the bed and kissed Karen on the cheek and went to leave, "Bye Karen," she said making her way out of the door. "Bye honey," said Karen, sipping on her martini. Grace lingered in the door, pondering on if she should say what she wanted to just then, she ran her finger up the doorway's woodwork, then chanced it, "I love you…. so much." Then she walked out of the room, not waiting for Karen's reply, Karen knew she wouldn't hear it but she whispered,

"Love you two honey…more than anything."

Not one of my best chapters…. but hopefully it'll be getting better soon. Anyways, thanks again for all of your reviews guys, I love reading them they inspire me to write on, thanks a million!


	10. One Step In The Wrong Direction

The next two weeks were bliss, Karen was at Grace's side like a little puppy for most of the days at work, and they snuck out to dinner as often as they could.

It was extremely frustrating to Grace that Will hadn't found out yet, she couldn't take him being in the dark anymore and she knew she couldn't tell him alone, and she couldn't do it with Karen there either, then she had the perfect idea.

"Jack?" she said to him as spun around on Karen's empty seat, Karen was running an errand for Grace, picking up some fabric at a store down the street. It was odd, ever since

they started doing what they now did, Karen was a much better assistant, Grace didn't like it actually but Karen just assumed it came along with the position of being her girlfriend so she did it, Grace didn't have the heart to tell her to cut it out.

"M-yah?" replied Jack, spinning around even faster, kicking off Karen's desk every three spins to maintain his speed. Grace walked over and stopped him abruptly, he looked into her eyes, and she smiled at him. "Can you do me a favor?" he smiled then stood up, stumbling since he was quite dizzy, he made it to Grace's desk and leaned on it for support. "Sure G what is it?" Grace walked over to him and clapped her hands, she was certain Jack wouldn't deny her request for him to be with her as she broke the news to Will.

Why was this so hard for her? He was kind of dumb he hadn't figured it out this far, last Tuesday he even walked in on Karen and Grace in Grace's bedroom, Karen didn't have a

shirt on and she was about to slide on top of Grace but he just said, "Oh! Are you guys doing an underwear fashion show? No fair! Why wasn't I allowed to join in? I just got new boxer briefs!" they smiled at his innocence, Karen was upset by Grace's inhibitions

and she stormed out of the apartment, shirt in hand. Karen was fed up with sneaking around, she'd always say, "Please Grace, let him know, he's your best friend he'll understand!" Grace promised Karen she'd tell Will today, and she knew herself she couldn't put it off any longer.

"Will you come with me in about twenty minutes to Will's office for lunch?" Jack looked skeptically, awaiting the catch. "I want to tell him about me and Karen and I think I need you to be there." Jack was flattered at the demand for his presence and he flaunted across the room and back into Karen's seat to continue his spinning, "Of course Grace, but I will warn you," he stopped spinning to tell her, "You have to be one hundred percent sure you want to do this now, because when we get there, I won't let you back out." Perfect, that's exactly what Grace needed. She smiled and nodded, Oh god…this was it.

She entered Will's office with some bags of food in her hands, she let Jack go in first so it wasn't a big surprise he was with her, "Hey guys," said will, looking away from his computer screen, "You're early" he remarked. Jack and Grace said nothing, They took their seats in Will's office and Will smiled and went through the bag and pulled out his food, "Thank god you guys didn't take much longer, I'm starved!"

Jack kicked Grace's leg, out of Will's view, and she knew this was it, she took a breathe and said, "Will, I gotta talk to you," Jack reached over and held her hand, Will smiled, "Oh my god, did Jack get you pregnant?" he joked, but her quickly realized that no one else found it funny and he looked at them seriously, even Jack was serious, this must be big.

"Okay, Okay," said Grace, she looked at Jack for help, "its okay honey go on," soothed Jack, she looked at Will, and she wanted to cry, "Will, you want me to be happy right?" She wanted to trap him so he felt obligated to be happy for her, even if he truly was or wasn't. "Of course sweetie," he wiped off barbeque sauce with his napkin and said, "What's all this about?"

She once again glanced at Jack, she was so thankful he was here, she had to remember to thank him later. "Do you remember, when you and Jack came in from RENT early and I was in the shower?" He thought back a minute, that was a long time ago kind of, at least three weeks. "Yeah I remember it," he looked confused,

"Well, you know how," she stopped, this was going to get confusing, she didn't want to tell him this way, she let out a long sigh and looked down into her lap, "Me and Karen are seeing each other." She admitted finally, AHH it was so good to get off her chest, Will looked confused.

"What do you mean?" he said.

"We're going out, we're in love." She was very straight forward, but it was how she had to be, she didn't know any other way to handling this.

Will looked startled, and then said, "How long?" she wasn't sure if he was angry or not. "Three weeks and five days." Not that she was counting. He got up and walked over to the window and looked out, he was definitely mad, Jack squeezed Grace's hand tight and motioned for her to say something. "Please understand Will, I know you and Karen don't get along great but oh Will, she makes me so happy she really does, please try and understand." She supplicated.

Will turned around, his face burning with anger. "Grace? How could?-why?-just?-ugh!" Grace looked down to avoid eye contact with him. "Why are you mad?" she whispered.

"Why am I mad Grace? Why? Because I'm your best friend, and this has been going on for weeks and you can't tell me? You even told Jack before me, and KAREN? Why? I don't understand you! I really don't! What are you doing this for attention? Not enough spot light on you so you have to go lez?"

Now Grace was angry as well, "Maybe this is why I waited so long to tell you Will! Maybe this was why, you over-analyze everything! Can't you just be happy for me, for once? Seriously, out of all people, I though YOU'D be the one to understand, YOU'D be the one to say, 'Grace I'm so happy that your so happy!" But no! You have to become my mom, my psychiatrist, for once just once Will! I want you to be a friend! And nothing more! God dammit!" Grace was bawling, she ran out of the office. Jack stood up and said to an angry Will, "You never told her about us… I can't believe you'd do this to her, she's already so confused!… You can be really mean sometimes." And Jack left as well.

Grace hopped in the first taxi she saw and took it straight to Karen's, that's where Karen went almost every lunch break, and Grace didn't blame her, Karen's house was amazing. Grace had her own key now so she didn't have to knock and wait for the maids to open it for her or anything. She went straight up to Karen's room where she'd know she'd be, she was still crying, she walked in and Karen was sitting on her chair, reading a book. Grace slammed the door behind her then leaned on it, she was crying, hard. "Oh, honey." Said Karen, she threw her book aside and went over to soothe Grace.

"I told Will," said Grace, Karen rubbed her back as they embraced. "I take it it didn't go well." Said Karen. Grace didn't say anything for a moment, and then came back with,

"He said I was doing this for attention." Karen almost wanted to smack Will for being so blunt and cruel in his analysis of their relationship, it most certainly was not true. "Oh baby, it's okay, you'll stay here tonight." Grace sighed; Karen always made her feel better, Karen let go of Grace and walked to her bathroom, Grace followed her. Karen opened up her medicine cabinet, revealing all of her many bottles of pills. Karen gazed at them all and then grabbed one in the middle, slightly to the right. "Karen what's that?" asked Grace meekly.

Karen gazed at her through the mirror, "Just some pills to make me feel better," she opened it up and poured two into her palm, Grace walked over to her and smacked them out of hr hand letting them fall into the drain. "What the hell grace?" said Karen, barely raising her voice.

"I don't want you taking those anymore." Scolded Grace. Karen rolled her eyes and pored two more out, Grace again slapped them, this time Karen tried to grasp for them in the sink but she failed, "God Karen! These things are going to kill you!" Karen poured two more, although she didn't want to, Grace didn't knock them out of her hand this time, she just stared at Karen, open mouthed, "God, your really fucking addicted to these aren't you," Karen placed one in her mouth ad tilted her head back quickly, letting it go to the back of her throat, Grace just watched, in awe. Karen repeated the motion for the second pill.

Grace always knew Karen's addiction to these, but now that they loved each other so much, she wanted Karen to stop, and Karen was very reluctant. "YOUR KILLING YOURSELF!" screamed grace, finally. Karen turned around and glared at her with her eyes. Karen exited the bathroom and walked into her bedroom. Grace followed. "What? You don't care? You don't care you're doing this to you?" Karen still remained silent although it was tempting to respond to Grace's true accusations. For so long Karen had subconsciously hoped that one-day these little things would be the end of her. "KAREN!" screamed Grace, she was a wreck. "Mind your damn business Grace! If I want to take them let me take them!" shouted back Karen. Grace stepped back shaking her head, "Okay, okay. It's none of my damn business Karen? IT'S NONE OF MY DAMN BUISNESS? Go ahead and kill yourself, go right ahead." There was a long

pause. "YOU'RE ALL I HAVE LEFT BUT GO ON AND KILL YOURSELF!" screamed Grace louder and more violently than any of her passed words. There was a

very brief pause and both woman pondered what had just happened, Karen was in complete shock, her problems never affected anyone this much. Then Grace left the room, slamming the door behind her, Karen got on her knees, then on her side and curled up on her bedroom floor and wept.


	11. That's Better

Grace stormed out of Karen's house, she walked down the warm New York street, sobbing, she didn't really care who saw, it wasn't like she was going to see any of these people ever again anyways. Now she really had nowhere to go, she couldn't go back to Will's because she already stormed off and she had too much pride to go back, and she couldn't go back to Karen's either. She walked into central park and sat on a bench, she was crying and people passing were kind of side glancing her.

She shut her eyes and just let the tears seep out, then she felt someone wipe one off her nose…a stranger? She opened up her eyes and smiled, and they smiled back, then they came together in an embrace, "It's okay, shhh it's going to be alright." It was Jack, he knew she'd come here; Karen had just called him and told him what happened. "How did you know I was here?" asked Grace. "Karen called me worried sick and she told me to come collect you, she really loves you ya know. Come on, let's go back up to my apartment, you can stay there tonight."

Grace followed him obediently, and then he slowed down and put his arm around her. "Thank you so much Jack, your being so good to me," Said Grace. "I love ya G, it's nothing, you're my friend and your in need so I'm there for you, I know you'd do the same for me," he said sincerely. They got up to Jack's apartment, they used the stairs so Will wouldn't hear the elevator open, Grace couldn't handle seeing him anymore tonight. Grace sat on Jack's sofa while Jack fixed her some coffee, she really did have a rough day so far. "Oh god Jack I have to go to work tomorrow," said Grace. He didn't say anything, "What if Karen's there?" she turned around. "Of course she'll be there, now, Karen didn't tell me what your little fight was about but it doesn't change anything, Karen still loves you, she loves you more than anything. Karen called me sobbing, she was in tears the poor woman, I never heard her so emotional in all the years I've known her, it's hard to break Karen Walker and you did it, you got right into her heart and honey, your in deep. Now you're my friend and so is Karen, and it hurts me to see you two in pain and fighting, and I know you two really care about each other so whatever it was about, I'm sure you can work it out."

His words melted Grace, god she did love Karen and she knew he was right, they'd work everything out at work tomorrow, Grace laid down on the couch and fell asleep, she never even had any of the coffee Jack was making her, and she slept until around four the next morning, she looked over and Jack was in the chair next to her, watching over her, how sweet. She sat up and kissed him on the cheek and then walked out the door, she snuck into Will's apartment and as quietly as she could she grabbed some clothes out of her room and changed then quickly left before Will even knew she had stopped home, she wanted him to worry about her, and she knew Jack wouldn't say a word. Then she went back out onto the streets. It was still dark out. She walked straight to Karen's house, she let herself in, and she went up into Karen's room, Karen wasn't in bed, she walked into the study and there Karen was, standing in front of the fireplace, sobbing. Oh god, Grace felt instant guilt, how could she have done that to Karen, she was upset and although she meant all of the words she said, she could have presented them better. She quietly snuck up behind Karen and held her stomach and rested her head on Karen's shoulder, with this Karen let out a big sob, she knew it was Grace, Karen kissed Grace's arm and Grace felt tears drip onto it. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," whispered Grace into Karen's ear. Karen was still sobbing uncontrollably or else she would have also said sorry. Karen turned around and Grace wiped away her tears, she had no make up on, she was gorgeous. Grace did a half smile, that was covered in tears, some her own and some Karen's. Grace reached down and kissed Karen's forehead briefly, Karen looked up at her, she sniffed and said, "I have a problem Grace, I have to stop it." Grace didn't say anything she just brought Karen back to her for another hug. "It's okay, you're going to be fine sweetie; you're going to be okay."

The next day at work there were little words exchanged between the two. "Karen, I don't know what to do about Will." Karen sighed and set down her nail polish and blew on her nails. "Talk to him Grace, just try again to talk to him." "But Karen you don't understand he doesn't listen!" said Grace throwing her pencil down on her desk, it bounced and hit the floor, Karen starred at it momentarily then said, "and I'm going to talk to him with you." "Oh Karen, I don't know, I mean…" "No Grace, I'm going to, because maybe when he sees us together and sees how much we care about each other and how happy we are, he'll understand better." Grace couldn't argue with that logic and she agreed to it.

That night Grace couldn't have been more nervous, Karen was calm on the outside but boiling on the inside, she couldn't show it though, she had to be strong for Grace, she was pretty good at hiding emotions. They had called Jack to tell Will they were coming so it wasn't a big surprise or anything, and Jack agreed to be there too. At seven, Grace knocked on the door and Karen held her hand. Will answered the door and said, "Hi guys," very timidly. They walked in and sat on the couch, Karen still held Grace's hand that was clammy and shaking. Jack smiled at Grace and Karen and they smiled back. "So are you guys hungry because I made some dinner?" said Will, he brought it all out to the table and they all sat down together to begin the meal.

It was all silent, then Will said this, not looking up at all, "I'm sorry Grace, what I said to you, I didn't mean any of it you know," Grace looked up at him, he stayed looking at his meal, "I was just, confused I think." He trailed off. Grace just stared at him; waiting for him to look up, Grace felt her eyes tearing. God she was so sick of crying. Will looked up, "I'm so happy that you've found someone Gracie, I just want you guys to be happy together." Karen reached over and grabbed Will's hands, "Thank you honey." Grace stood up and so did Will and they hugged. "God now I know what having your best friend come out to you feels like." He teased, Grace laughed, Jack held Karen's hands, Karen never felt happier, she was so glad Grace had Will's approval, it would ease her so much, she herself didn't really care for Will or his opinions but since it meant so much to Grace, it meant a lot to her too. The rest of the evening was a breeze, then at the end Grace brought up the thing her and Karen decided to tell Will if everything had went okay, which it had. "So Will, I hope you don't mind but I'm moving in with Karen now," she said, apprehensively. He smiled at her, "Of course, God, I really am happy for you two, I am. But you know, there are consequences to dating the devil's mistress." They all laughed, except Karen who gave him the finger then also laughed. There was a pause and Grace leaned over and kissed Karen's cheek. The boys smiled at her sweet gesture, and Grace was walking on air the rest of the night.

**EHH…I'M NOT SURE IF I LIKE HOW THIS CHAPTER WENT…..PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME WHATCHA GUYS THINK!!! XOXO**


	12. My Broken Heart

The next three weeks Karen and Grace felt like newlyweds together, starting their lives together. Karen wanted to move out of her house and into a smaller one, that would be perfect for her and Grace, so they slowly moved all of their stuff out of their previous residencies and into their new one. It was an apartment, it was a very upscale loft, Karen had taken Grace house hunting and Grace completely fell in love with it. She was so excited to design it, she wanted it very light and breezy and full of color.

Will came by to see it and he also loved it, but he was definitely sad over loosing his roommate. Grace suggested Jack move in with him and Jack jumped at the idea, (more-so at the idea of not paying bills) and Will was slightly timid at first but he agreed, he found living by yourself to be quite lonely. Surprisingly, not much changed in Will and Grace's friendship, since Karen had always been in their lives together, it wasn't like it was really adding another addition onto the foursome, just another element to the friendship that made it more dynamic than it already was, and Will couldn't argue, since he'd never seen Grace happier.

With most of Grace's boyfriends, she kind of feared commitment, but not with Karen, she had no trouble saying I love you to her every night before they lay in bed together, or making plans for the future. Karen also was putting a lot into it, it was the first time she fell in love with someone by knowing the person first, and not loving their fortune. After they had completely moved in and everything was decorated and proper, and Grace took some time of from decorating, she noticed Karen wasn't being herself. Karen was reading a book in front of the fireplace sipping a martini. Grace had learned that Karen liked to read a lot of books…especially murder mysteries. But she noticed Karen wasn't really reading it at all, she was just staring at the page, she could tell because her eyes weren't at all moving, she also noticed she hadn't drank a sip form her martini, and she had hardly touched dinner that night, something was up. Grace walked over and set down the clock she had in her hands to hang up on the wall and sat down on the autoimmune and put Karen's feet on her lap. Karen looked up and smiled at her. "Ya done decorating for the night honey?" Said Karen softly. "Yeah I think I am." There was a pause and Karen went back down to staring at the page. "Karen…what's the matter?" asked Grace frankly. "Nothing honey," she lied. "Karen, you've been on that page for twenty minutes now, and you haven't even touched your drink…something's up." Karen closed her book and took off her glasses, yes glasses! Karen wore glasses! Then she stood up, "Really honey I'm fine, don't worry about it." She said quite unconvincingly, and then she went off to bed.

"Will, seriously something is up with her, she's not herself lately and I want to know what's up, she won't talk to me!" Said grace sounding very frustrated. Her and Will were at the coffee shop, waiting for Jack and Karen to arrive there from their shopping spree. Grace was happy knowing Karen had all of hr money to spend on them, it put aside her usual worry of being able to pay the next month's rent, and since Karen wasn't paying for that huge house anymore, they had a lot more money to spend on everyday things. Grace even took a month's vacation from hr Interior design company to spend with Karen, although Karen did STILL work for Grace, well it wasn't so much _for _anymore, it was actually…_with_. "I don't know Grace, that is weird though, I mean I wonder what could be bothering her, and I mean you know her a lot better than I do." Grace pondered that for a moment, did she know Karen?

Karen and Jack entered, Jack was holding about ten shopping bags and he had sunglasses on, (obviously new) and a huge smile on his face, Karen smiled too, but not convincingly. "Hey guys!" said Grace, getting up to help Jack with all of his bags, she kissed Karen on the lips and Karen retaliated. They all sat down and had a nice lunch.

Later that night while Grace was vacuuming the carpet, Karen entered the house. "Karen where've ya been? I've been worried! I tried calling your phone and it was off." Said Grace wiping sweat from her brow and walking over to Karen who looked distressed. "Um, I was just out." Said Karen, throwing her purse down on the chair and taking off her sweater. She waked away but Grace followed her. "You were "out"? Karen what's going on your acting weird." Karen turned around and got right in Grace's face, "Don't worry about it Grace!" "I am worried about it Karen, your not yourself lately something is going on and I want to know what it is!" Karen sighed and sat down on the chair and then looked up at Grace, "I was at the doctor's," said Karen, not making eye contact with Grace, these words put up a red flag and Grace looked at Karen crookedly with fear in her eyes, "Why?" She said at last, with a voice as calm as she could. "I have a heart problem Grace, and it's not good." She said at last, sounding almost short of breathe. "I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to upset you, I know your stressed out lately." There was a long pause and then Grace asked, "What is it called?" "It's called cardiovascular disease." Grace swallowed hard, "Do you take pills for it?" "Yes, Captopril…I have a blocked coronary artery, and narrowed heart valves." Grace shut her eyes, she was no doctor but she knew this wasn't good. "Are you going to be okay?" Said Grace, which was the important question to her. "I, I don't know." Said Karen as brave as she good. Grace teared up and looked at her peacefully and kissed her. They went into an embrace, "They want to do a surgery, it'll be kind of risky but it'll help with all of the abdomen pain I've been having and all the dizziness too." Grace sobbed, although she didn't want to, she wanted to be strong for Karen, and she would be, she promised herself, but right now, she cried and Karen was strong. Karen followed grace upstairs and they made love, it was passionate and tender, and Grace did all the work and she didn't even mind. Karen had two orgasms even, and Grace lay on her chest when they were done and listened to her heart beat fast. She listened to Karen's steady heartbeat for what seemed like all night, making sure it wasn't going to stop beating, Karen slept and Grace listened, Thump…thump…thump.


	13. Talk To The Flowers

Karen didn't want Grace to tell anybody about her heart problem, she hated when people felt sorry for her. The next day they sat down at the table instinctively and stared at each other, they usually sat next to each other but now they sat perfectly across and stared into each other's eyes.

"You know what's going to have to happen," said Grace finally, Karen swallowed hard and looked down then back up again. "What?" she said, although she was pretty sure she already knew. "No more smoking, no more drinking, and no more pills." Grace said it and Karen shuddered. "Grace you don't understand I can't just quit, just like that, it's going to be hard." "I know, but your going to start trying, and I'll help you, okay?" Karen sighed, she hardly knew what she was getting into, but she said, "Okay."

Their dishwasher had broken so Grace talked Karen into helping her with the dishes, Grace was washing them and Karen was drying and putting them away, and they were singing together, Grace wasn't very good, but Karen let her think she was, and Grace sang a lot quieter than usual because Karen had a beautiful voice and she loved hearing it. They were jamming out and then Will entered, "Hey you guys seem happy today," he set his coat down on the couch and walked over to them, Karen sat down the towel and Grace ran over and kissed him. "So are we still on for lunch you guys? I sure hope so because I think Jack is already on his way there and is holding our table."

"Ooo! I completely forgot about that!" Said Grace. "Me too!" said Karen with her hand over her mouth, "Okay, okay, Will you just go down there and we'll meet you there in about twenty minutes okay?" Will shrugged, "Okay" He then left, Karen and Grace both raced to their room, they both still had on their pajamas and they hurried up and threw on some decent clothes, Karen always looked fantastic, she put her hair up and pinned her hair piece on top of it and fluffed it slightly, and she buttoned her light-blue shirt and threw her pumps on.

Grace had already been dressed, (it took her a lot less time) and was brushing her teeth. Karen ran into the bathroom and booty bumped her out of the way, Grace laughed and some toothpaste fell out of her mouth, "Ew Grace" said Karen, joking with her. Karen put some red lipstick on her lips and kissed the mirror, and then Grace said, (with toothpaste in her mouth) "Hey, I'm gnua haveta cleantha" Grace spit it out and rinsed out her mouth and Karen put in her other earring, then they raced to the door, Karen was a few steps ahead of Grace and Karen stopped abruptly and clenched her side, Grace almost ran right into her, "What's the matter Karen?" said Grace hesitantly, "Nothing, I'm Ooo," she clenched it tighter and grit her teeth in pain, she went to stand up, but it brought her down again, "Karen?" asked Grace brushing hair out of her face to see her. "I'm, I'm fine, it's fine, it was just a cramp is all," Karen stood back up straight, "Are you sure?" said Grace, Karen smiled and shook her head yes.

The elevator ride down consisted of Karen doing her best to hide the pain and Grace starring at Karen, very cautiously. By the time they got to the main floor, Karen's little episode was over and they went to lunch, Karen laughed and talked with the boys but Grace was very distant, she couldn't help thinking at anytime, she could loose the love of her life to this heart disease she had, and she just couldn't handle it.

She knew Karen didn't want her to tell anybody but she had to, she knew not to tell Will because she didn't like the advice he gave most of the time and since Jack had proven to be a great friend to her lately, she went to him. Karen had a business meeting with Will discussing her will, she wanted everything to go to Grace, although she didn't tell grace that.

She knew it would upset her, and Karen was worried she didn't have much time left at the rate she was going so she wanted to make sure everything was okay, so Grace had her apartment all to herself for a few hours so she invited Jack over. He entered with, "Oh my goodness I just met the cutest guy!" Grace walked over and peeked out of the doorway, she got a glimpse of him as the elevator door shut, "Ooh he was cute!" she agreed, Jack gave her a underhanded look, "I thought you were a lezzy now?" Grace laughed, "No, I guess I'm, I guess I'm bi? Hmm, I haven't really thought about it, I mean Karen is the first woman, and I had been straight since then, but hey, Karen could turn any straight woman Gay and any Gay man straight," Grace joked, although it did prove to be true.

Jack rose up an invisible glass and clanked it with Grace's invisible glass, "I hear that sister," he took and imaginary drink. "Yeah, so Jack, I needed to talk to you, it's kind of important, and it's extremely vital that you don't tell ANYONE about this," Grace started off, at those words she had Jack's complete attention, "I promise G, what is it?" they sat down on the couch and Grace set her hand on his thigh, he gazed at her, and waited for her words to hit his ears. "It's Karen Jack, she's not doing good." Jack responded with, "How, not doing good?" Grace scrunched up her face. "She's sick Jack, she has a heart condition, and it's not doing well." Jack opened his mouth then covered it with his hand, "Wow. Why didn't she tell me? Poor Karen." He said.

Grace explained to him how Karen didn't want anyone to know, and how she may have to go threw surgery and all of that, his hand never left his mouth threw out the whole time until she was done talking and he held Grace, his friend. He secretly wondered why she didn't go to Will with this information. It was obvious her and Will had slowly been drifting apart ever since Karen came into the picture as clearly as she was now, but they were still best friends, they still had the complete dynamics they had before and they knew what to say to make the other feel better, so why was she going to him? He didn't know, and it didn't matter really, all that mattered was that she did and she was his friend and he'd do anything to help her through this problem, he really wished that Karen, who he thought was his friend would come to him with her problems too because he'd be more than happy to help her as well as Grace with anything she was struggling with, like relationships, stress, vital heart conditions…anything along those lines he would be more than happy to hear about. What was up with Karen? Why did she block everyone out? When you have friends that love you as much as he and Grace and Will love Karen, then there should be no trouble in her coming to them with her problems. He wasn't going to force her to talk, and he definitely wasn't going to confront her about this particular issue, especially because of how much Grace would kill him, so he decided to shrug it off and hope she would come around.

When Karen got home that night, Jack was long gone. Grace had been crying the whole time she was gone but wiped away everything and reapplied make up so Karen couldn't tell. "Hey honey," said Karen timidly. Grace got up and hugged her. Grace immediately retreated and stared at Karen. Karen swallowed hard. "Karen," said Grace as she held out her hand. "What honey?" said Karen, although she wasn't oblivious to what Grace was asking for. "You've been smoking, I can smell it on your breathe, give me the cigarettes," said Grace. Grace didn't like being harsh with Karen but it was the only thing she responded to. "I don't know what your talking about Grace?" she said. She tried to make a quick exit to he bedroom to pop a mentos but Grace didn't let her leave. "Karen please stop!" yelled Grace. "You have to want to quit please! Now give them to me!" Karen teared up and opened her purse and handed over a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Karen wanted to leave because she hated when Grace was mad with her. Grace wasn't mad, and Karen knew it when she smiled and held her face with both hands and kissed her. "Thanks Grace, you're my rock." Said Karen. Grace laughed at being called "a rock". She never saw herself as strong or someone anyone could lean on, but she was glad someone saw her that way, although she always felt it was the other way around. In normal relationships, (as Will once told her) there are two roles that you could play; you could be a flower, or a gardener. The gardener always tends to the flower, because the flower has to be the center of attention and without the gardener, the flower would die. In their relationship, they were neither flower or gardener, they were just people walking by in the garden to admire the gardeners and their flowers, because nothing else mattered to them, they didn't need to grow, or plant, or be bright, or tend to… they just were. And they knew that, and that's what made them so perfect.

Karen threw her purse down, letting all of its contents spill onto the floor. Grace took her fiercely but Karen led them, up to the bedroom, where they ended every night, leaving a trail of clothes behind them.

DON'T WORRY EVERYONE, THIS SCENE IS NOT OVER, ITS JUST THE CHAPTER THAT'S OVER. MORE WILL COME SOON! STAY TUNED, AND LIKE YOU ASKED ILL TRY TO PUT IN GRAPHIC DIRTY DETAIL, LOL.


	14. And All That Jazz

Grace was angry with Karen and that made the sexual tension in the room so much higher than it already was. Every time they had sex it felt like it was the first time, each time being different and more pleasurable than before. Karen went into the bathroom; Grace lit the many candles around their bed as fast as she could.

Grace left her bra and underwear on, they were soft and cottony, and Karen on the other hand was in the washroom, putting on her long lacey silk robe. Grace turned on her radio, to a soft station that was sweet, she turned the volume low, but the sounds were noticeable. Grace didn't pull the covers over her; she stayed above them, so that Karen didn't have to struggle to fall on top of her.

Grace was used to letting the man take her over and she did little to no work about pleasing him back since she was quite selfish in bed. She had tried her best to get over this habit of hers with Karen, mostly because she had never wanted to please someone as bad as she did Karen. Karen was the queen of kink, and she had to convince Grace to do some of the tasks they did together, it was quite comical really, them together.

Sex is something that isn't usually, "cute" but it's hot, and raunchy and passionate. While theirs mostly was all of those, they also had a sweet comedic shade to it, something that both of them were aroused by.

Karen opened the door and exaggerated her hip to the side. Grace smiled at her playfulness. A million emotions ran threw Karen's head, she was nervous, god was she nervous, not just about her problems she faced outside the bedroom door but about the sex, she always got nervous, very unexpectedly when her and Grace were about to have sex, she wasn't ashamed of her body, but she was vigilant as to how Grace would react to her.

Karen shook her body, slowly taking off her robe then putting it back on, in a little strip tease, Karen style. She snapped her fingers and let it drop to the floor revealing her bra and underwear, and then she leapt on the bed with little poise, but rather an excited playfulness.

Grace immediately put her arm over Karen's naval and flipped her hair to the other side of her neck, so it wouldn't get into their mouths when they kissed, (as it usually did.) Karen met her half way so they were both slightly sitting up above the bed, and Karen ran her nails on grace's scalp and it tingled Grace's body.

The candles warmed the room and made Karen's face absolutely stunning, and Grace's body glowed as the lights flickered.

Grace let her free hand travel down Karen's smooth stomach that was warm and soft. Grace reached the only thing Karen had left on her body besides her bra and slipped her hand inside them, feeling where she wanted. Karen whimpered with bliss and opened her mouth to smile at the pleasure while Grace still kissed her.

Grace's fingers slipped inside Karen easily, as they always did. Karen took in Grace's scent, it was lavender, from her shampoo, and the candles were all very light smelling and all of that aroused Karen even more. Karen was inches away from climax, Grace thrust faster, and then slower.

Karen continued to shout out Grace's name, she even bit her own fist to contain herself but it was useless, she cried out louder, it was coming, the orgasm, but just as she was about to reach peek, and they were both breathless, the phone rang.

It distracted the both of them, grace continued for a second, hoping they'd hang up and not call again but it rang once more, and Grace pulled her hand away from Karen and with her other hand she answered it. "Hello?" she said kind of hoarsely. Karen sat up, distraught that her orgasm was rejected. "Um, yes one moment please," said Grace, she covered the mouthpiece and looked at Karen, who looked back indifferently. "It's Jack Kare, he wants to talk to you," she smiled but then turned away again and then jokingly said, marked with a hint of seriousness, "Tell him to fuck off."

Grace released her hand from the mouthpiece and said, "Karen says…oh, you heard," she gave Karen an, 'uh-oh' look. "Can it wait until morning Jack, we're in the middle of something? Ugh alright here she is." Grace handed the phone to Karen and Karen lay down and took the call unwillingly, "What poodle? Mama's havin sex wadya need?" Grace covered her face, and she could hear jack giggling on the other line while Karen's face remained as straight as an arrow.

"Mmhmm, Myeah, okay, alright Jackie I'll see ya there, don't worry, okay, g'night starshine!" she pressed end and set it on her nightstand. Then she lay back down and looked up at Grace who lowered herself on top of Karen and kissed her upside down then she let go, and got up and walked into the bathroom, and Karen snuck outside and had a cigarette. Although she was almost one hundred percent sure Grace would notice, she needed something after _that_ sex.

**HOPE THAT WAS A GOOD SEX SCENE FOR YA GUYS, I TRIED MY BEST, PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YA THINK! XOXO**


	15. Drowning In Silence

As Karen was outside smoking she looked in the room and saw the steam from Grace's shower, she knew she was safe to continue, so she lit another one, she couldn't help it, she hadn't smoked regularly in three days she was about to tug her hair out of her head!

Grace was wrong, she hadn't had one earlier, she was in a bar and people around her were smoking, she WAS drinking though.

She sucked on it and held the smoke in as long as she could, embracing the taste of it. Then she instantly felt sick to her stomach.

Was it guilt that she was smoking behind Grace's back? Ow, no guilt didn't hurt this bad, something was up.

She put her cigarette out in the plant as quickly as she could and limped back into the bedroom, grasping her abdomen.

She knocked on the bathroom door then began to walk over to the bed but collapsed onto the floor, clutching where the piercing pain was.

Grace heard her thump on the ground and Grace almost slipped out of the shower trying to come out so quickly; she wrapped the towel around her as she opened the door, and she dropped next to Karen's side on the carpet.

"Karen, look at me, are you okay? What's going on?" said Grace surprisingly calmly. "Karen looked up at her, her normally beautiful face, distorted with almost unbearable pain. "It's my side, it hurts really bad," Karen forced out of her lips.

Grace jumped onto the bed and called nine one 911. "we need an ambulance," she said as quickly as she could, "Karen's hurt," she said as if they knew Karen and she meant as much to them as she did to her.

Grace talked to Karen as Karen slowly started to fade away from the beautiful candle lit room and into darkness, "You smell like smoke honey," she made out from Grace's sentence, she also heard, "It's going to be okay, I love you, I love you, I love you…I love you," then she heard sirens, then she let the very last of the light to escape her and she was drown by silence, and darkness. …..


	16. Five Sixty Six

Grace was sitting outside in the waiting room of the hospital, pacing the floor, tugging at her nail beds and leaving several fingers bleeding. Then she saw Will and Jack hurrying down the hall, she ran into Will's arms and hugged him tightly and let out a sob, "Will" she said. She felt Jack rubbing her back, she let go and wiped away her tears and looked into their eyes, "So, how is she?" asked Jack. "I don't know the doctors won't tell me anything!" she shouted at an innocent doctor walking by.

"I'm sure she'll be okay Grace, Karen's strong," said Will, "Yeah Grace, she wouldn't just leave you like this, she's going to be okay…don't worry." They both said the words but weren't sure if they themselves believed them, they were sweating, they loved Karen so much and hey all just wanted her to be all right, but each one of them knew the reality that she might not be. "They won't even let me see her Will," said Grace.

Will hugged her again and Jack joined in, the doctors passed them all by and they hugged in the hallway, letting the world go around them like a bustling dizzy nightmare, and they just hugged and said silent prayers, knowing their lives would never be the same again if Karen didn't wake up. After about twenty seconds, (which felt like and hour) a doctor crept up the group, "Miss Adler?" he said, Grace turned around and wiped the tears away from her soft face, "Can I talk to you for a moment?" he inquired, leading her over to an empty office-like room. He walked in before her and sat down on top of a desk, Grace slightly closed the door.

"Okay Miss Adler, Karen's had a bad reaction to the medication she's been taking, which caused her abdomen to hurt her severely, then all of that pain triggered a slight heart attack. Grace covered her mouth; her Karen had a HEART ATTACK?

"Can I see her?" asked Grace. The doctor looked up, "Sure, but she's asleep, we put her out so we could run some tests," he said thumbing through some papers, then Grace said what she really wanted to, "Is she going to be alright?" he looked up, he had kind eyes, he said cold and morose but his eyes…they were soothing. "Yeah, I think she'll be just fine, she'll be herself by tomorrow. We're just going to keep her overnight for precautions sake." He smiled at Grace and exited the room, Grace followed him, and walked up to the boys who were nervous and eager to hear the news, and prepared for the worst.

Jack rushed up in front of Will, "How is she?" Grace smiled, "She's going to be fine, I'm heading down to her room, you guys want to come with me?" Jack quickly responded with, "No go ahead…we'll be down in a sec." Grace walked the halls, alone, and counted the rooms, five sixty-three, five sixty-four, five sixty-five…here it is…. _five sixty-six_.

She pressed the door open, Karen was sitting up, drinking some water from a cup the nurse had handed to her, the nurse looked up and saw Grace standing in the door way and smiled and quickly left them to be alone.

"Hi Grace," said Karen inaudibly. Grace didn't say anything; she walked to Karen's side and knelt down. Karen grabbed her hand and Grace felt the wires they had on her, on her finger…she opened her eyes slightly and delicately and saw an IV in Karen's arm. She wanted to cry but looked back up…tearless and kissed Karen's hand, which was freezing.

"Oh Karen, you scared me," said Grace. Karen didn't have any response to that so she lowered her head in shame; she had brought in on herself after all. She didn't try to quit smoking, she hadn't stopped drinking, she still snorted up some coke every now and then, behind Grace's back when she could get her hands on some, she even found a new brand of pill that worked like a charm. The only reason Grace didn't notice really, is because intoxicated was the only way she'd ever seen Karen and so she didn't know better.

Karen looked into Grace's eyes, they were pleading. She then decided she was going to stop…right now, no more alcohol…no more drugs, no more cigarettes…she was done with it all, not for herself…but for Grace because she realized how bad she had hurt her and she refused to do it again.

"I love you so much." Said Grace. Karen held the back of Grace's head, and Grace held Karen's hand with both of hers, not looking up for anything. Then they both heard knocking on the door and looked up, it was Jack and Will, they were carrying two huge bouquets of flowers, Jack had some chocolates in his hands, they must have stopped at the gift shop. "Here Karen," said Jack.

Will walked over and set his down in a vase on her nightstand, "Oh thank you girls, I love it!" she said smiling. "I'll-I'll take the chocolates," said Grace, grabbing them from Jack's hands. "How ya feeling Kare? Any better?" Said Jack, taking her hand, Will stood behind Grace and kissed her shoulder.

She reached back and grabbed his hand with hers and they kept them there and swayed, almost as if dancing. "Oh I'm fine honey, I just want to get out of this hell hole."

Jack giggled at her little remark, "Hey Jackie, I hear there's a gay doctor taking care of the patient in the room next to mine, here he's a total hottie with a body!" joked Karen, Jack's eyes lit up, darted to the door then back to Karen. "I'll have to introduce myself!" he said back. "When are you coming home?" asked Will. "Tomorrow afternoon hopefully, ugh I'm sentenced to spend the rest of this awful night in this god forsaken cot."

After about twenty minutes of chatter, the boys left with hugs and kisses, Grace followed them out into the hallway, Jack wondered into the room next door, and Grace looked at Will as he waited impatiently for Jack to return from putting moves on the doctors.

"Thanks Will, for comin down, for the flowers, for…for everything." He smiled, "Awe no problem sweetie," he said sincerely. He kissed her and then Jack walked out of the room waving a piece of paper, obviously the doctor's number and they went to the elevator. Grace waited until the door shut and dinged until she walked back into Karen's room. Karen was coloring in a coloring book Jack had brought up for her with the flowers, Grace giggled, Karen's tongue was sticking out the right side of her mouth, touching her upper lip due to her complete concentration of coloring in her picture.

Grace walked over and slipped of her sandals and climbed into the bed next to her. Karen scooted over to make room, but didn't remove her eyes from her coloring. "That's a pretty rainbow dinosaur," said Grace, as she rested her head on Karen's shoulder.

Karen looked over and kissed grace on the forehead. She held her completed work up, very proud of it, Grace stood up and ripped it out and thumb tacked it to the board on the wall.

Karen smiled, then grace came to climb back into bed but Karen said, "Oh Gracie, look in my bag honey I forgot to tell you, I bought something for you." Grace suspiciously looked at her and followed her instructions, "I remember you saying you never got one and you wanted one when you were a kid," said Karen.

Grace opened up her large overnight bag she had and found a fuzzy purple pillow, what she had asked for on her birthday as a child, she picked it up and held it tightly to her chest, "Awe, my fuzzy purple pillow," said Grace.

She held it tightly and walked back over to the bed and climbed on in, she slid under the blankets and rested her head on her new pillow, "Thanks Karen that was so sweet." Karen was pleased she made Grace happy, because that's all that really mattered in her life any more…Grace.

Pretty soon, they were both fast asleep; Karen had her crayons still in her hands. Grace had her pillow under her head. The nurse walked in, and although visitors were supposed to leave, she just smiled and shut off the light…pretending not to notice. Karen had her arms wrapped tightly around Grace, knowing she never ever wanted to let go.


	17. Rock Bottom

Grace woke up and Karen was still sleeping, she was curled up and her thumb was in her mouth, Grace giggled at her childlike behavior she so often possessed. Grace jumped up and hopped into the hospital shower, there were some little shampoos in there so she used them. She really liked little things…little soap, little toothpaste, little deodorants, little mouthwash. Grace liked to sing in the shower, so she started singing a song she heard on the radio the other day. She didn't really know all of the words so she just sang the chorus over and over again, each time she felt she got better and better, but then she heard rustling in the room so she quickly stopped.

She turned off the shower and through on her clothes from yesterday since she didn't bring anything with her. She wrapped the towel around her hair and opened the door. The nurse was cleaning up the flower pedals that had fallen, Grace smiled at her, she looked over at Karen's, she was still sound asleep. "I heard you singing," teased the nurse. "Oh… I'm sorry" apologized Grace instinctively, "No you were good, maybe you're the next American idol," Grace laughed. "She had a rough day yesterday eh?" Asked the nurse, motioning her head to Karen.

"Ah, yeah." Replied Grace smirking in Karen's direction. "That you're friend?" asked the nurse. Grace wasn't sure what to say, 'no she's my significant other? My girlfriend?' so she just smiled, The silence made the nurse rephrase her question, "Lovers?" asked the nurse, very nonjudgmental. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." The nurse shook her head, "You can tell, the whole time she was in the emergency room, she kept asking for you ya know, she was more worried about you being worried than her being okay…I guess that was the giveaway."

Grace smiled and pulled the blankets over Karen. "Yep, well I really love her, and I sure hope she loves me back," the nurse put her hand on Grace's wrist, "Trust me darling, she does." The nurse left and Grace rubbed Karen's back until she stirred then woke up. "Hey honey, let's go downstairs and get some hospital food breakfast," said Grace, Karen moaned and rolled over, putting her pillow over her head. "Karen, come on I'm starving!" Karen looked up at her, "You're the devil, woman." She said Grace laughed, Karen got up and put her slippers on, she took her IV with her down the hall in her hospital gown, and they went down the hall, hand in hand to the cafeteria.

Later that night, Karen and Grace rode the elevator up to their apartment, the unlocked the door and Will and Jack were there with a big sigh that said 'WELCOME HOME KAREN!' They had some balloons up and everything, Jack ran over and hugged her and Will did too, which was surprising to everyone. Grace teared up at the sweet thought that the boys had pulled together, Karen and Jack booty bumped each other and ran of to the couch to gossip, about god knows what…hot doctors…sex…shoes?

"You want some wine Gracie? I brought some over?" Grace looked at him as if he were insane, "No!" she snapped. "You know Karen can't have any alcohol or anything, get that out of the house before she sees it!" Grace demanded, but it was too late, Karen was by the counter pouring her and Jack a glass. Jack who was oblivious to what he was allowing and Karen, who was oblivious to what she was doing, were laughing and right when Karen was about to take a sip, Grace yanked on her wrist causing it to spill on Karen's shirt. Karen stepped back and looked at Grace, "I'm sorry Karen," said Grace. "You ruined my shirt Grace." Said Karen softly, "Well I was stopping you from drinking," replied Grace. "You ruined my shirt, this was new," said Karen, in a scary calm voice. "Well I'm sorry I grabbed you like that, but I didn't want you drinking and you should know better Karen you're an adult you should be able to take care of yourself!" said Grace, raising her volume with a detection of antagonism in her voice.

As Grace said those words it made Karen think of her mother, that's how her mother used to talk to her as a child, and it "pushed her buttons" so to speak, and at that moment, Karen snapped. "I am an adult Grace! I think I can make my own decisions too! And if I want to have a god damn glass of wine I should be able to have one!" Karen didn't want a glass of wine; in fact she didn't even want to be arguing right now because she was so obviously in the wrong, why was she doing this? Hadn't she made a promise to herself that she was going to give it up? What was she doing? Drinking. She argued anyways, her temper built by the moment.

"Well you obviously haven't made very good decisions so far have you? Look where you ended up yesterday! And I don't know if you've realized this but I'm a big part of you're life now, and if you like it or not, I'm a part of the decision making, just like you're a part of mine. I guess I thought, oh I dunno, my opinion mattered? Guess I was wrong huh Kare?! Because apparently, nobody matters but you, am I right? It's all about Karen! And she won't listen to anyone, not her family, not her friends, even though they love her, she blocks them out. Maybe she doesn't realize that all we're doing is trying to do is help!"

Karen was silent, tears streaming down her face; Jack and Will were hushed in shock. "We're trying to help you idiot!" shouted Grace an inch away from Karen's face. Karen shut her eyes. "Are you too self-centered too realize that that's all we're trying to do?" Karen opened her eyes and looked at Grace. "Grace, take your opinions," Karen got up in her face and Grace backed up, but Karen didn't leave her intimidating pose. "Take you're advice, and take you're love and get the hell out… because I don't want it, and I sure as hell don't need this." Karen pointed to the door, Grace turned around and stormed out, Will and jack followed her. Will and Jack were with Grace all the way, they figured the only way for Karen to learn is by tough love…well they didn't really… "Figure" it was more of a last resort, since nothing else was working…obviously. As the elevator dinged shut, Grace fell to the floor in agony and the whole complex, including the three in the elevator, heard Karen let out a piercing scream. She tore down her welcome home sign, she smashed the bottle of wine glasses to the floor, glass flew back and landed on her foot and she stepped on some, and it cut her. She was too angry to notice. She threw all of the food of the counter all over in one single thrust of her arm.

Then, she did something she told herself was out of anger, but was really because she knew she had too. She took the bottle of wine, and smashed it against the wall. Then, exhausted, she crawled up to bed, and lied down, blood dripped off her foot but she didn't notice, but she must have subconsciously because she let her feet hang off the edge, letting the blood drip onto the light wood floor, she didn't even turn off the TV, or he light or anything, she just slept.

Meanwhile, Grace was bawling in the cab the whole way home, even the taxi driver questioned her condition. Will carried her into her old bed at his house; Jack subtly agreed to take the couch with absolutely no complaint. Will climbed into bed with her and held her shaking body that was wet with tears, until it was asleep.

It was days like these that really test relationships. Every relationship has it's low points, but sometimes…sometimes rarely and sometimes not, certain low points sunk to an absolute zero, and tonight, Karen and Grace hit rock bottom in a depthless pool. It tested everything they had; everything they had built together and worked for was put on the line as of now and both knew that.

That night, Grace had a dream of when her and Karen first met, Grace was an up incoming designer, looking for assistance around the office. Karen came in, (ten minutes late) and sat down with sunglasses on and a scarf around her neck, as if she were a movie star. Grace was drawn to her intensity. Her first question for Karen was, "Do you have any experience in the designing industries?" Karen pulled her sunglasses off and set them on her head, "Um, I guess so, I mean I always read design magazines and stuff." God was she unprofessional, at this moment Grace was certain she'd turn her down, seeing as though two other woman had come in with much more poise, experience, and professionalism as this one here. "Okay," said Grace, turning the page on her clipboard, "Karen, um, why do you want this job?" asked Grace, masked with integrity.

"Well honey, I'm filthy rich and I need to keep humble, and I figured, working in a dump like this will be perfect!" she leaned in, "and not to mention three or four hours away from the kids." She laughed, "It'd be more like, seven, eight hours, but sure." Grace laughed uncomfortably.

She had noticed Karen's beauty, just as Karen had noticed Grace's, but it was nothing more then mere observation. Just then Karen's cell phone rang, she put up her index finger, touching Grace's mouth as she was about to speak and answered it. "Hey JoJo what's shakin honey?" She asked. Grace was appalled by her rudeness but was in awe of her boldness.

"No honey I can't talk I'm in a job interview, I know right? Me work!?" she laughed outrageously then was instantly calm again, "Yeah for an interior designer…um, Grape Antler?" "Grace Adler," Grace corrected. "I'm sorry, JoJo, Grace Adler," Karen listened to him talk and then looked over at Grace, "Honey what's with your outfit? Are you Johnny Cash?" Grace looked down at her all black ensemble then looked back up, her cheeks red with embarrassment.

"Well I'm sure she'd love to design you're hotel honey, let me ask her," Karen put her sweet hands, that Grace instantly noticed, over the phone's mouthpiece. "You wanna design his hotels Grape?" Karen asked. "Um, yeah sure, tell him to stop by anytime." Said Grace, trying to hide her amazement.

And that's how they became acquainted, how could Grace refuse Karen for her rudeness, her unprofessionalism and lack of experience after she gave her, her first major job and client.

Plus Karen's connections always helped Grace out. They shook hands and Grace said, "You start Monday at eight." Karen smiled and began to walk out the door. And that was it, that's how it went. Although that first Monday, Karen didn't come in at eight…it was more like, ten.

Grace woke up and found herself sweating, Will was still in bed but had drifted to the other side so she slowly crept up out of bed and she left the room. She was still in her clothes. She glanced at the clock and it said, 6:20 am. She decided to go home, since she knew Karen was still asleep and couldn't possibly be mad anymore, Grace knew she wasn't.

She walked into the apartment and saw all of Karen's damage, she immediately began to clean it up, and an hour later, the kitchen was looking as it was supposed to. Grace made her way up the stairs to check on Karen, Karen hadn't budged from when she laid down, In fact she got very little sleep, she had just fallen asleep about forty-five minutes before Grace arrived and began cleaning up. Grace noticed her feet, glass shards sticking out and dried blood on her toes and the floor. Grace winced and whispered, "Oh baby what did you do?"

She shook Karen gently, and Karen tossed over violently and began to step off the bed but Grace, quickly led her back down. "Baby you got glass in your feet." Said Grace, forgetting they even had a fight at all. Karen, who was half asleep, didn't say anything she just turned over and put them up on Grace's lap for her to examine them, as if Grace were the school nurse and Karen an unwilling kindergartner.

"Hold on, I'm going to get the tweezers, don't move." Grace hurried into the bathroom; Karen laid back down on the bed, also forgetting about the fight. Grace pulled out the tweezers and some rubbing alcohol. She sat back down and set a towel under Karen's little feet. She began to pull each piece out one by one and dropping it carefully into the garbage can at the bedside.

She wiped the blood off after she was done; Karen bit the pillow and yelped in pain. After they were al done, and grace had bandaged them up as good as she was capable, grace slid up into bed with Karen.

There was no need for apologies, or even remarks. Karen just said, "Never again," and they both knew what it meant, and they both agreed.


	18. I Will Try To Fix You

_They were perfect. They were Beautiful. They met in the middle of nothing and kissed where everyone could see. No words. No before. No after. **They kissed and it was perfect. **It was everything. It was nothing. Afi- DECEMBERUNDERGROUND_

Before they knew it, a year went by. Karen and Grace were working together still and still very much in love, Karen had slowly tried to stop drinking, doing drugs and taking pills and she was doing a very good job. She had a few slip-ups, and plenty of withdrawals, all very painful and wrenching. Grace was with her through every minute of it though, never leaving her side, never giving up or loosing hope, and that's really the only thing that got Karen through.

Her heart condition had improved a great deal, but it still could be better. Karen tried to stay as healthy as she could, Jack even bought her a treadmill for her birthday. They had finished redecorating the house and were just getting everything back in order. Jack and Will were there helping them move furniture in, although Grace was doing most of the work as Jack and Karen were in the way, talking and laughing.

Will was cooking lunch in the kitchen so he was pretty preoccupied, "Um…Jack? You want to give me a hand with this coffee table? It's pretty heavy," said Grace, setting the huge piece of furniture down and wiping off sweat from her brow. It was June, so things were kind of hot, but it was still not warm enough to turn on the air so they had all of the windows open, a perfect summer day. A warm breeze would flow in every couple of minutes and Karen basked in it, shutting her eyes and thinking to herself, 'man do I got it good.'

Jack jumped up and grabbed the other end and they moved it down the single step to the living room area. They set it down, "Phew," said Jack after his momentary labor. Karen was in her own little world, daydreaming, Grace recognized it since this was often the look she possessed at work so she sat down next to her, knocking Karen back into reality. "Whatcha thinking about?" said Grace. Karen hugged her tightly and it took Grace by surprised but she immediately hugged back.

Jack smiled sweetly at the two then stood up and walked into the kitchen, asking Will if he needed any help, and knowing he didn't, (which was the only times he asked.) "Smells good Will what are you cooking?" said Karen. "Oh just an old recipe…Grace's favorite." Grace clapped her hands then fell onto the couch, resting her feet on Karen's lap, Karen took of her sandals and rubbed her feet.

Ten minutes later they all sat down at the table together. Will talked about his busy week at the office, Jack talked about a hottie he met at the gym. Grace chimed in here or there but Karen was silent, she just smiled sweetly. "Hey Kare, so we had a pretty busy week huh?" said grace, implying Karen should enter into the conversation. "Oh yeah, we sure did." Karen's absence of opinion was rarely something that happened, so they were all apprehensive to her abnormal behavior.

"Yeah, we got this new client. Antonio Lamarnette, he wants us to do a room for him and his wife, and Karen suggested, tell them what you suggested," said grace, elbowing Karen gently, and laughing, the boys looked at Karen, Karen swallowed her bite of food and said, "I don't remember grace, why don't you tell them." There was a silence momentarily, and then Grace said, "glass" then stood up and pulled Karen with her to the other room. Will and Jack looked at each other but then continued to eat.

"What's the matter?" asked Grace. Karen looked puzzled at this question, "Nothing honey why do ya ask?" Grace gave the whole; 'don't give me that' look and then affirmed it by saying, "Don't give me that, what's up? You haven't said a word since we started eating."

Karen smiled, and then said, "I'm scared Grace, I'm afraid that we're turning into an old married couple, I mean we hardly do any of the fun stuff we used to anymore, there's no more excitement, and I mean, I'm really happy, don't get me wrong, I just am afraid that things aren't going to be like they were forever, because these past few months have been hard, but they've been happy too, just…being with you, it makes me happy. I don't want things to change ever," she exhaled as if that had taken loads of energy to say.

Grace held Karen's face and kissed her sweetly, "things aren't going to change, we're going to be together forever, and I'm not saying there won't be hard times, but there won't be bad times, I promise." Karen felt as ease by hearing these words and she smiled. "God you always know just what to say, but I want to keep things exciting Grace, I want the whole spontaneous things we did when we first started off together, I've been missing that lately. I mean you've been so busy working and all and me and Jackie have been hanging out everyday."

Grace didn't say anything but Karen knew she agreed, and had also noticed the dulled life lately between the two. It had been a long winter and a dreary spring but now it was summer and everything was hopefully going to pick up again. "Hey, remember when we had sex in your shower and the boys were in the other room?" asked Grace. Karen giggled. "Wanna do it again?" asked Grace. "What? Here? Now?"

Before she could say anything one way or the other, Grace reached behind her and unhooked her bra with her one hand surprisingly easily and quickly, (one of Grace's interesting talents.) Karen slowly perked up at this and let Grace's mouth connect to hers. Between rapid and fierce kissing Karen managed to utter, "the boys," Grace flipped around and Karen slammed her onto the door and kissed on her neck in the sight of a future hickey. Will and Jack looked up as they heard the door thump and they heard Karen's shoes hit the floor, Grace even knocked over a bag of make-up. Will and Jack assumed they were fighting, since they left the table kind of upset. Karen and Grace squabbled often, nothing serious, but when women are together as much as they were, there are bound to be fights.

Some of Karen and Grace's fights got a little physical, a little shoving or slapping but nothing serious, so Jack and Will were worried. They hopped off their seats and ran to the bathroom door. Grace turned the water in the shower on and Will knocked on the door. The shower was pretty, the whole bathroom was pretty, all glass and light green tile, Grace had done it herself. The green was Karen's idea, since green was her favorite color.

"Grace?" asked Will, "Karen?" He knocked again, Jack pushed through him and opened the door, they saw Karen's bare back pressing Grace against the shower door and Jack quickly and quietly shut it, Grace and Karen didn't even notice. Jack laughed, Will tried to hold it back but then gave in and started laughing too. "Wow" said Jack. "I know, hey let's clean up and get out of here, let them have their moment." Will was a little upset his lunch plans were trumped but he was happy for them. Their love gave him hope with all of his relationships. It made him feel that people do have soul mates and you can find them.

Meanwhile, in the steaming bathroom, Grace was still pressed against the shower door, Karen felt the heat of the shower and it made her sweat a little bit. Grace slid open the shower door and they stumbled in, careful since the water made the floor slippery.

Karen loved sex, everything about it, the pleasure, the closeness, the securities, the touching, the experience, everything! She herself thought she was pretty good at sex, Grace would agree. Grace thought she was mediocre at it, Karen would disagree. Karen caressed Grace's body, which was warm from the steam of the shower, it was slippery. Grace was wet, and not only because of the water from the shower. Karen kissed Grace's neck and her chest. Their make up ran down their faces. Most think that lesbian sex is tricky and hard, but not for them. They didn't need to use toys or anything, not when they had their tongues and fingers.

Karen found she had a hidden talent for giving oral sex, she found this talent in her early teens and had become more advanced in the subject as years went on, by the time she got around to Grace, she could get her off in moments. Her tongue jolted around inside Grace and Grace's toes curled and her back arched. Grace had her hands on top of Karen's head and on the back of her neck. When Karen stood up Grace knew it was her turn, she wasn't great at oral sex, but she was good with her hands.

They kissed until they were booth on the floor of the shower, the water beating onto them. Grace set Karen on her lap and they pushed together, Grace flipped Karen around so that they were facing the same way, her head was on Karen's shoulders, Karen's legs spread apart and both touching the sides of the shower, Grace reached over and put her hand in between Karen's legs. This was Grace's favorite position; Karen could be on top of her, and Grace could get the perfect angle to her. The only thing she didn't like about it was not being able to see Karen's gorgeous face and the way she bit her lip during an orgasm, and the way she squeezed her eyes tighter with every thrust.

Grace slipped two fingers into Karen, and immediately found the spot that made Karen squeal. Karen, in her high-pitched voice yelped with pleasure. "Grace," Karen moaned. Grace teased Karen, putting herself in her, then coming out, going fast and slow, hard and soft, she learned this worked well. "Harder," Karen instructed, Grace did so. Karen moaned again, then again, pretty soon they were both breathless. Grace flipped Karen around and laid her on her back, Grace blocked the water from hitting her face, and it dripped down on both of them, the heat of it made everything better. Grace kissed Karen, Karen Grabbed Grace's ass. Grace secretly loved when Karen did this, but would never admit it to anyone. Then Grace held Karen's hands, their fingers interlocked with each other, Karen had her nails beautifully done, French manicure, tips and all. Karen's hands were soft and beautiful, small and smooth. Grace's fingers had a sloppy coat of red nail polish on them, they were bitten up and chewed, her hands were soft but not that much, since she had some blisters from painting. Grace grabbed a washcloth in the bathroom and tied Karen's hands together above her head.

Karen loved this game, Grace reached out of the shower and grabbed Karen's mask she used to take baths with that covered her eyes, Grace put it on her. Karen smiled; Grace first kissed Karen's mouth, then in her ear, (Jack said she really enjoyed being kissed on the ear.) Karen loved this, all of her other senses were heightened, she could hear over the running water, Grace panting and breathless, she could feel everything better and she smelled the soap and water, and her favorite scent, Grace's shampoo. Grace ran her tongue down Karen's torso, Karen instinctively spread her legs, making room for anything that may want to come in.

The rest of the day was bliss, after that mind-blowing sex. Karen called up Jack and met him at the coffee shop to talk about it, Grace stayed home and talked to Will over the phone and apologized for ruining his little lunch. He understood, and commented on how he had walked in on the two and how oblivious they were, he said something like, "I could have been a serial killer and you wouldn't have known, wow that must have been some really good sex Grace." Grace laughed and agreed. "She's great Will, I don't know what to say." "You got lucky Gracie Adler, you have a hot girlfriend, you have good hair, and one extraordinarily handsome best friend, if I do say so myself, I don't think you could have asked for better."

Grace pondered that remark momentarily and then replied with, "I couldn't have." Will smiled and Grace felt it through the phone so there were no need for words just then, "So, where are Jack and Karen anyways?" said Will finally. "Oh, they're at the coffee shop, gossiping." Will chuckled, Grace heard the TV flip on in the background. "What are ya watchin'?" asked Grace. "Grace, it's lifetime movie day, you know that!" he teased, Grace made her way over to the sofa and flipped channels until she reached the same one as Will, "Ooh, it's a good one!" observed Grace. Will took a sip from his iced tea and then agreed.

They stayed on the phone for about another hour, watching the movie and then talking during commercials. Finally, Will was going to take a shower so they hung up. Five minutes later the phone rang, Grace figured that it was Will calling to remind her of something so she answered it without looking the caller id and saying, "What!?" It wasn't Will; it was Jack, calling from the coffee shop. "Grace?" he said almost out of breathe, "Oh hey Jack what's up? You girls have fun?" she asked. "Grace you gotta get down here right away, Karen, Karen had a heart attack."

The words hit Grace hard. She wasn't even sure if she had said anything after that, but before she knew it she was buckling her shoes in the elevator and rushing out of the lobby onto the humid New York streets. She turned the corner, each step she grew more and more worried and she could feel herself shaking, then she crossed the street and made a left and opened the door, the paramedics weren't there yet and Karen was on the floor, she pushed bystanders out of her way and fell to the ground next to Karen, her eyes weren't open.

"Karen?" she asked, brushing her hands against her face, "Karen wake up its Grace," she pleaded…nothing. She looked up at Jack whose eyes were watery, "Jack why isn't she answering?" Grace shouted at him and he could find no consolation for her. Then Karen shook slightly and opened her eyes; her beautiful hazel eyes and said, "Grace?" Grace inhaled briskly and laid her head on Karen's chest then came back up instantly, "Yeah baby I'm here, I'm here." "Hi Grace, I didn't think you'd come," she said, she seemed dazed and weak. "Of course I came Karen," said Grace in tears, "Hold my hand Gracie," instructed Karen, Grace looked down at Karen's hand, Grace had been holding Karen's hand the whole time, Karen couldn't feel it. This scared Grace beyond comprehension and Grace feared the worst.

Grace got down close to Karen and kissed Karen's lips gently, and Karen kissed back, but barely. Grace took the ring off of her finger and slid it onto Karen's, "Marry me Karen," said Grace, Karen blinked slowly and said, "Okay, I love you Gracie."

"I love you too Karen," said Grace, the paramedics busted in through the doors, Grace kissed Karen's lips again, this time, she didn't kiss back. The paramedics pulled her out of the way; Grace stood up and was held by Jack. Karen let the darkness fill her eyes, right after she looked up at Grace, she felt the ring around her finger and she clenched her fist.

The paramedics took Karen away in the stretcher and ambulance, Jack and grace followed it in Jack's car. They had called Will and he met them at the hospital where they waited patiently in the waiting room. They awaited the news on Karen's condition. Jack was asleep on Will's shoulder, Grace sat straight up, shaking, Will held the both of them.

The doctor finally came out, Grace leapt up. Will couldn't see Grace's face and couldn't hear the words the doctor was saying, but suddenly, Grace fell to her knees and screamed at the top of her lungs…Will knew it was over. Will rushed to her side and so did Jack. She stood up and threw them off violently and sprinted down the hall. Grace ran through the hospital in deliria, she made it to the roof of the hospital where she screamed. She once again fell to her knees. How did this happen? Several hours ago her and Karen were laughing together, kissing and touching, but now Karen was never going to touch her again, she would never hear that voice that she loved so much, she was never going to look into her sweet hazel eyes and see life.

An hour later, Grace walked down the stairs and found her friends who were also crying, she looked at Will and said, "I can't do it Will, I can't live without her." Will let tears trickle down his cheek and he grasped his best friend closely and let her sob into his shoulder.

The funeral followed sometime after. There were a lot of people there, a lot of people loved and admired Karen, Beverly Leslie, Rosario, Jennifer Lopez, her step-kids…and Will, Jack and of course Grace. Grace rocked back and forth in the pew and then got up to read her part. "Karen," she began, she bit her lip. "Karen was more than a co-worker to me, she was my friend. Karen was more than a friend to me, she was my love. Karen was more than a love to me, she was my life. She's gone now, Karen's gone… god I hate saying those words, but I know their true. The doctor told me that there'd be five stages I'd go through during this grieving process, first would be denial, I went through that, then anger, god I went through that, then bargaining, and then depression. I don't think I'll ever reach acceptance, ever. I know that sounds foolish to say but I won't ever get there, there is no accepting this, Karen was my world and now she's gone." Jack was bawling and Will held him tightly.

"Karen, the world is emptier now that you're gone, you had your flaws, sure, everyone does, but you were so wonderful that they were hardly noticed, I love you Kare, I always will." Grace stepped off the podium and sat back down. At the graveyard as soon as she heard, "ashes to ashes and dust to dust," Grace took off running, she ran from the cemetery, she ran into the city, down the street, up an ally and into a familiar elevator.

She opened the door to her office of Grace Adler Designs, Grace entered her office building and just collapsed onto the floor, she let her hair fall in front of her face, covering up all of the mascara that had run down her cheek. She let her papers fall, she let her back rest against the leg of her desk, she sobbed quietly, she prayed Karen would come through the door and kiss her and make it better and she knew very well….she wouldn't. She knew Karen would embrace her problem and solve it best she could so she prayed Karen would walk through that door with the familiar cheery smile on her face, and would find her like this, sobbing and broken and she would pick her up and make it all better.

_When you try your best but you don't succeed  
When you get what you want but not what you need  
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep  
Stuck in reverse_

_And the tears come streaming down your face  
When you lose something you can't replace  
When you love someone but it goes to waste  
Could it be worse_

Lights will guide you home  
And ignite your bones  
And I will try to fix you

And high up above or down below  
When you're too in love to let it go  
But if you never try you'll never know  
Just what you're worth 

Tears stream down your face  
When you lose something you cannot replace  
Tears stream down your face  
And i…  
Tears stream down your face  
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes  
Tears stream down your face  
And i…

Lights will guide you home  
And ignite your bones  
And I will try to fix you….

_**COLD PLAY LYRICS- FIX YOU**_

WELP THAT'S IT GUYS, HOPE YOU REALLY LIKED MY STORY,AND I HOPE YOU ALL WILL BE SATISFIED WITH MY ENDING, I KNOW IT'S SAD BUT EVER SINCE THE BEGINNING I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO END THIS WAY… I WILL BE STARTING A NEW ONE VERY SOON SO LOOK FOR MY PENNAME! THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT!! KISSES, Emily xoxo


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